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ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

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Illustration of an Angler, from T/ie Treaty se of Fjysshytige wylli an Angle.

[Frontispiece.

ANCIENT
ANGLING AUTHORS

BY W. J. TURRELL

"Fishing, if I a fisher may protest,
Of pleasures is the sweet'st, of sports the best,
Of exercises the most excellent.
Of recreations the most innocent.
But now the sport is marde, and wott ye why ?
Fishes decrease, and fishers multiply."

Chrestolerosy Thomas BASTARD, 1598.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

GURNEY AND JACKSON

10 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.G.

1910

TO
THOSE BRETHREN OF THE ANGLE

"that hate contentions, and love quietnesse, and

VERTUE, and angling"
THIS WORK IS FRATERNALLY DEDICATED

287

FOREWOED

There are probably many anglers who, whilst
pursuing their contemplative recreation, have at
some time wondered by whom and at what date
the various forms of fishing-tackle, and the different
methods of angling, were first introduced : this work
on the ancient angling authors is the outcome of
an attempt to satisfy that natural curiosity.

Though only English angling literature is here
dealt with, it must not therefore be inferred either
that the art of angling originated in England, or
that the first treatise upon it appeared in the
English language. On the contrary, the origin of
angling is lost in the impenetrable depths of pre-
historic times : the paintings on the Egyptian tombs
show that fishing, by methods not very dissimilar
from those in use at the present day, was practised
in the East from the earliest periods of which any
records exist. Moreover, not only did the ancient
Egyptians practise the art of angling in order to
appease the pangs of hunger and to delight their
palates, but even in those early days the capture

vii

viii FOREWORD

of fish afiforded both amusement and sport, for we
are told that then the aristocratic form of fishing
was with the fishing spear or bident, and that the
use of the net and the hook was relegated to the
lower classes.

Among the many ancient writers who either
refer to, or deal with, angling in their works, the
following especially call for notice.

Pliny, in his Historia Naturalis, a work written
in the first century of our era, recognised seventy-
four varieties of fish, and it is worthy of note that
even at that early date, he correctly classified the
whales among the Beluce and not among the Pisces.

Julius Pollux, of Naucratis in Egypt, a Greek
sophist and grammarian, in his work, the Onomasticon,
which was written before A.D. 177, mentions the use
of lines made from the hair of stallions, and bamboo
rods so slender that they scarcely threw any shadow
on the surface of the water. He describes the method
of spearing fish by torch-light, leistering or " burning
the water," as it is now termed in Scotland ; and
he also refers to the use of leads, cast-nets, drag-
nets, etc.

Oppian, who lived about the end of the second
century, wrote a work, divided into five books :
Halieuticks^ of the Nature of Fishes^ and the Fishing
of the Ancients. The two following extracts from
William Diaper's translation (1722) of part of this
book show that the eel basket, the taper rod, the
line, etc., were known in. the time of the author, and

FOREWORD ix

also that the pursuit of the art then afforded con-
siderable pleasure : —

Besides loud threat'ning Storms, and sudden Winds,
He meets vast Whales, and monstrous nameless Kinds.
The slender-woven Net, vimineous Weel,
The taper Angle, Line, and barbed Steel,
Are all the Tools his constant Toil employs ;
On Arms like these the Fishing Swain relies.

Thither the thronging Boats with Pleasure hast,
You in the central Depth the Plummet cast.
The willing Fish around ambitious wait,
Fly to the Line, and fasten on the Bait
While You with Joy the grateful Prey receive,
And from the wounding Steel his Jaw relieve :
Well pleas'd You see him gasp, and lab'ring breath.
And long in sportive Pain his struggling Body wreath.

The vimineous weel was a kind of trap made of
twigs or withies. Burton, in his A natomy of Melancholy
(printed first in 1621), refers to the use of "weeles"
in what he calls a kind of " hunting by water." The
famous author of this mine of learning commends
fishing, and deals with Plutarch's view, which he
quotes : —

Plutarch, in his book dc soler. animal speaks
against all fishing, " as a filthy, base, illiberal employ-
ment, having neither wit nor perspicacity in it, nor
worth the labour." But he that shall consider the
variety of baits for all seasons, and pretty devices
which our anglers have invented, peculiar lines, false
fiies, several sleights, etc. will say, that it deserves
like commendation, requires as much study and
perspicacity as the rest, and is to be preferred
before many of them. Because hawking and hunt-

X FOREWORD

ing are very laborious, much riding, and many
dangers accompany them; but this is still and
quiet : and if so be the angler catch no fish, yet
he hath a wholesome walk to the brookside, pleasant
shade by the sweet silver streams ; he hath good air,
and sweet smells of fine fresh meadow flowers, he
hears the melodious harmony of birds, he sees the
swans, herons, ducks, water herns, coots, &c., and
many other fowl, with their brood, which he thinketh
better than the noise of hounds, or blast of horns, and
all the sport that they can make.

In the third century the magnuui optts of Claudius
Aelian, De Natura Animaliuni^ was written : the
seventeenth book of this work contains a most
interesting reference to the use of the artificial fly.
Aelian refers to the Macedonians, who lived on the
banks of the river Astraeus, and were wont to catch
a certain spotted fish (in all probability trout) by
means of an artificial fly, which they called the
Jiippourus}

The natural fly, from which the hippourus was
imitated, was an insect, about the size of a hornet,
which buzzed like a bee, and was marked like a
wasp : it could not be used in the natural state
because it was of too delicate a bloom and of too
frail a structure, and it was therefore necessary to
imitate it by an artful device. This consisted in
wrapping scarlet wool round a hook, and then
affixing two wings from the wattles of a cock, suit-

^ The hippourus was probably so called from its resemblance
to the horse -hair crest then worn on helmets.

FOREWORD xi

ably coloured by the use of wax. The fly so dressed
must have borne some resemblance to a modern
chub fly. The rod which they used was 6 feet
in length, and to it was attached a line of a similar
length.

A Latin poem written by Richard de Fournival
about the thirteenth century alludes incidentally to
fishing, and from this work it appears that the fly
and the worm were among the lures then used by
anglers, and that the eel basket and spear were also
in use.

The foregoing brief notes from the ancient Greek
and Latin authors will serve to illustrate the develop-
ment to which angling had attained at the time
when it was first introduced into England.

Although there were many books treating more
or less of fishing, they appear to have dealt with the
art of angling incidentally ; the object of the authors
seems to have been more to illustrate the customs
and habits of fishermen and the natural history of
the fish, than to give instruction in angling. It may
therefore, I think, be fairly claimed that the Treatyse
of ffysshynge wyth afi Angle^ was not only the first
angling manual in England, but was also the first
practical work of the kind written in any language.
From the date of the appearance of this book, the
gradual and steady evolution of the art of angling,
etc., from the rough and ready forms of fishing then
in vogue, to the artistic and scientific methods now
practised in the various branches of the sport, can

xii * FOREWORD

be readily traced by reference to the subsequent
English angling authors.

The question, however, still remains, whence did
the compiler of the Treaty se of ffysshynge wyth an
Angle derive his or her information for the com-
position of such a book? There can, I think, be
little doubt that this notable work was a com-
pilation from the old manuscripts written and
preserved by generations of monks in the various
monasteries : and it is most probable that the
original manuscripts were brought over from the
French abbeys.

That such old manuscripts on fishing did exist
is proved by a paper, mentioned in Blakey's Angling
Literature^ which was read before a society of anti-
quaries at Arras, in France, and entitled, " On an
old manuscript treatise on fishing, found among the
remains of the valuable library belonging to the
Abbey of St Bertins, at St Omer." This work, which
was much mutilated, was supposed to have been
written about the year looo, and to have been divided
into twenty-two chapters. The primary object of
the author appears to have been to show that fisher-
men were exceptionally favoured with the Divine
approbation, but appended to the work there was
" a full list of all river fish, the baits used for taking
them, and the suitable seasons for angling for each
sort of fish."

In compiling my work on ancient angling authors
I have endeavoured as far as possible to quote the

FOREWORD xiii

old writers verbatim, preserving their punctuation,
their spelling, and their prodigal use of capitals.

The passages quoted have in most cases been
selected for their practical bearing on the sport, with
a view to showing the development of angling in
England.

In conclusion, I must not omit to acknowledge the
valuable assistance which I have obtained from that
wonderfully complete catalogue of angling books,
Westwood and Satchell's Bibliotheca Piscatorm, and
I must also express my indebtedness to the Librarian
of the Bodleian Library, for the kind permission
which enabled me to obtain the photographs used
for the illustration of this book. In another direction
I have to express my cordial thanks to Mr E.
Fordham Spence, for many valuable suggestions
during the progress of my work ; and I am also
indebted to Mr James Dallas, for his assistance
during the passing of the book through the press.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Illustration of an Angler, from The Treaty sc of

Ffysshyngc luyth an Angle . . . Frontispiece

2. Illustration of Man Pike-fishing, from Dyalogtts

creaturarum moralizatus . . . Face page 5

3. Title-page of The Secrets of Angling . • »> 43

4. Title-page of the First Edition of Walton's The

Compleat Angler , , . • » 93

$. T'it\e-p3.<;e of Ven3h\es' Experienced Angler . „ 112

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

CHAPTER I

The earliest description of fishing in the English
language occurs in ^Ifric's Colloquy^ to which the
Rev. W. Skeat, Professor of Anglo-Saxon at
Cambridge, was the first to draw attention in a
paper, entitled "The Oldest English Treatise on
Fishing," which he contributed to the Anglers' Note
Book. The colloquy was written by .^Ifric the
Abbot, about the end of the tenth century, to teach
his pupils Latin, and for this purpose was written in
English (Anglo-Saxon), with the Latin translation
beneath. It is arranged as a conversation between
the master and his pupil, the latter in turns figuring
as a huntsman, a fisherman, and a falconer ; thus :

Hwylcne craeft canst thu ?
M\agister\ Qualem artem scis tu ?

Ic eom Fiscere
P\iscator\. Ego sum Piscator.

2 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

The following portion, which relates to fishing, is
translated from Thorpe's Analecta Anglo- S axonica :—

M. What trade are you acquainted with ?

P. I am a fisherman.

M. What do you get by your trade ?

P. Food, clothes, and money.

M. How do you catch the fish ?

P, I go out in my boat, put forth my nets in the

river, throw forth the hook and the baskets,

and whatever they catch I take.
M. What do you do if the fish happen to be

unclean ?
P. I throw out the unclean and take the clean

ones to eat.
M. Where do you sell your fish ?
P. In the city.
M. Who buys them ?
P. The citizens : I am unable to catch as many as

I can sell.
M. What kind of fish do you catch ?
P. Eels, pike, minnows, eel pouts,^ trout, and

lampreys, and as many other kinds as swim

in the river.
M. Why don't you fish in the sea ?
P. I do sometimes, but not often, because it is a

long voyage to the sea.
M. What do you catch in the sea ?
P. Herrings, salmon, dolphins, sturgeons, oysters,

crabs, mussels, periwinkles, cockles, plaice, soles,

lobsters, and many others of a similar kind.
M. Would you like to catch a whale ?
P. No, I should not.
M. Why?
P. Because it is dangerous to catch whales. It

^ The eel pout, referred to as a river fish, is probably the
burbot, the restocking with which is advised by Mascall (see
page 28).

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 3

is safer for me to go to the river with my boat,

than to go hunting whales with many boats.
M. Why so ?
P. Because I prefer to catch a fish, which I am

able to kill, rather than one, who is able to

sink and kill with one stroke, not only myself,

but also my companions.
M. But nevertheless many men catch whales, and

so obtain great profit.
P, You speak truly, but I dare not owing to the

sluggishness of my spirit.

It is a long jump from the tenth to the fifteenth
century, but during the intervening period, with the
exception of a few statutes relating to fishing, I am
not aware of any mention of angling in English
literature.

Mr Hartshorne has published in his Ancient
Metrical Tales ^ 1829, a poem taken from a manuscript
by Piers of Fulham, which is supposed to have been
written about the beginning of the fifteenth century.
The original manuscript is in Trinity College,
Cambridge.

The following extracts are taken from Mr Harts-
horne's book : —

Loo worshipfull Sirs here after ffolleweth a
gently manly Tretyse full convenyent for con-
templatiff louers to rede and understond made by a
noble Clerke Piers of ffulham sum tyme ussher of
Venus Schole, whiche hath brieflye compyled many
praty conceytis in loue under covert termes of
fifysshyng and fifowlyng.

Perdimus anguillam manibus dum stringimus illam.

i ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

Mr Piers seems to have been a somewhat pessimistic
angler, and to have fully appreciated the difficulties
and disappointments of the art of angling.

A man that lovith ffisshyng and ffowlyng bothe,

Ofte tyme that lyff shall hym be lothe,

In see in ryver in ponde or in poole,

Off that crafte thowe he knowe the scole,

Thought his nett never so wide streiche,

It happith full ofte hym naught to ketche.

What fisshe is slipperer than an ele ?

Ffor whan thow hym grippist and wenest wele

Too haue hym siker right as the list,

Than faylist thou off hym, he is owte of thy fyst.

Diches sumtyme there samons used to haunte,

Lampreyes lucys or pykys plesaunt,

Wenyng the fifissher suche fisshe to ffynde ;

Than comyth there a noyous north west wynde

And dryveth the ffisshe into the depe,

And causeth the draught nat worthe a leeke ;

But in steide off sturgeon and lamprons

He draweth up gurnard, and goions,

Codlyng cungur, and such coisy fisshe.

Or wulwiche rochis, nat worthe a rysshe.

Suche fortune ofte tymes on fisshers fallys,

Though they on Petir prayen and callys.

The poem is too long to give in full, but I quote
the two couplets following to show that the poet was
possessed of some sportsmanlike instincts : —

And ete the olde fisshe, and leve the yonge,
Thought they moore towgh be uppon the tonge.

But stynkkyng fisshe, and unsesonable,
Latte passe, and taake such as be able.

Some anglers, when they return an undersized fish to
the water cut off a small portion of the caudal fin, in

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(umBt*(iui& in gfona mtuB mmU f? in wibe m in^mia M*
latoziB 6o(iacf iidptxit tiauiD CrO ab co I'ntf rf ect9 eft pzi'mo
xtguxni)? Caue rem ,ppter iram n fuptoitate otnijicte pduot
ri»'re*Quia iratue fttog putat fc ptu$ pcCfe fug onp6 iOpo nti«
nozarur gntie feti ^etocgt Irat9 ptue putar fc poOTe ^ poffit
$t idem legem fotet obtimfci itacuDia 0u p!?u6 ler mun im /
famnratue no DiUct irtam Capzopte r abfctocn&a eft ab atii^
too ®uia fif ut bititat ^uet* xxoifi Jta tion babet mifrn'fozOi ^
am piopter boc tiu^ iuoe j* afiQuam teotentia iratue piokttt
debet l?0itut m cronirieTgatoi? Q> otto p2im9 cum m pa&ba*
lifolemnitatepzinnpibuefuie roumiu pzrpatfiCfet atitequel
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be ipfum libere abire permifit
ff^tlmio ctttincba ^i?afogus Quabzagefim'^auartus

D

ffcatoz Quibam pifeabatur finbe e&am inbaaatam
pittihm oftcnbebat Tucius aueem et trintba fnttien
tm tUtm ipfam pturimu petoptabat Ji tur ius ige»

Illustration of a Man Pike-fishing, from Dyalogus Creaiumrum
Moralizaius.

[To face page 5.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 5

order that they may be able to identify it, if they
should happen to catch it again : other fishermen
condemn this practice, stating that it is unsportsman-
like to mutilate fish in this manner, and also that
these marks are not sufficiently distinctive for the
purpose of identification. In relation to this an
extract from an old and a very rare work may prove
interesting. In 1480 a Latin book, entitled Dialogus
creaturarum optime inoralizatus, was published, and of
this a translation appeared about the year 1520,
entitled "The Dialoges of Creatures Moralysed.
Applyably and edificatyfly, to euery mery and
jocunde mater, of late translated out of latyn into our
Englysshe tonge right profitable to the gouernaunce
of man."

The forty-eighth dialogue treats

Of a Fissher and a lytyll Fissh.

A fissher as he fisshed he cawght a lytell fissh
and whan he wolde haue kylled him he spake and
sayde. O gentyll Fissher haue mercye uppon me,
for yf thou kyl me thou shalt haue but lytel
auauntage of me. But & if thou wilt suffre me to go
fre and delyeuer me from this daunger & captuitye I
promise to God and to the, that I shall cawse the to
haue greate wynnynge, for I shal retourne unto the
daylye withe greate multitude of fisshes and I shall
lede them in to thy nettis. To whom the fissher
sayd. How shall I mowe knowe the emonge so
many fisshes. Then sayd ye fissh. Cut of a lytell
of my tayle that thou mayst know me emong al
othir. The fissher gaue credence to his woordis and
cut of his tayle & let him go. This lytel fissh was

6 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

euer uncurteys, for contrary to his promysc he lettyd
the fissher as oftyn as he shuld fissh, and withdrewe
ye fisshes from him and sayd. faders and worshipfull
senyours be ye ware of that deceyuar for he
deceyuyd me, & cut of my tayle, and so shall he
serue you if ye be not ware. And, yf ye beleue not
me, beleue his workis that apere upon me. And
thus saynge the fissh shewyd them his tayle that was
cut. Wherfor the fisshes abhorryd ye fyssher and
fled from him in al possible haste. The fissher usid
no more fysshinge, wherfore he leuyd in great
pouerte. Of fortune it happid so that a longe while
aftir the fissher cawght agayne the same fissh emonge
othir. And whan he knew him he kylled him cruelly
and sayde

He that hath a good turn and is uncurteys agayn
It is veray rightfull that he be therfore slayne.

Among many other woodcuts in this book, there
is the earliest known illustration of an angler fishing
with a float. A photographic reproduction of this
illustration, taken from a copy of the first edition
of this work in the Bodleian Library, is given.
Beneath this woodcut the following didactic dialogue
appears : —

Of a Luce and a Tenche (Dialogo xliiii.)

Vppon a tyme ther was a Fissher that fisshed,
and hydde his hookis sotellye, and shewid unto the
fissh the delycyows bayte. A Luce and a Tenche
beholdynge the pleasaunte bayte, desyrid it greatlye.
But the Luce was wytty, and sayd to the Tenche.
This mete semyth very good and delicate, but
neuerthelesse I trowe that it be putte here to

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 7

disceyue Fisshes. Therfor let us forsake it, that we
be not loste by the fowle apetyte of glotonye.
Trincha than spake and sayde. It is but folye to
forsake soo goode a morsell, and so delycyous, for a
lytle vayne dred for rathir I my self shal attaste of
it first, & dyne with it with great plesure and
swettenesse. And Tarye thou and beholde my
chaunce. And whyle that she swalowyd in the mete,
she felte the hokys that were hydde. And she wolde
fayne haue retournyd bakwarde, but the Fissher
pluckyd her up to him, and the Luce fledde swyftlye
and sayde thus.

Of othir mennys sorowe corected mote we be,
Euyr that fro parell we mowe escape free.

It is curious to look back from the present time,
when ladies are taking so active a part in most of
the so-called "manly" sports, and to find that the
first existing work on angling in the English
language is attributed to a lady writer, one Dame
Juliana Berners, or Barnes.

This work, entitled the Treatyse of ffysshynge wyth
an Angle ^ was first printed in 1496, and was published
then as part of the Book of St Albans. It seems
probable, however, that the treatise on fishing was
compiled some time before this date.

Mr Joseph Haslewood, in the introductory notes
to his facsimile reproduction of the Book of St
Albans (18 10), says: "The period of vC^riting this
treatise may be fixed, with some confidence, to
have been early in the fifteenth century." He calls
attention to the fact that allusion is made in the

8 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

treatise to " the ryght noble and full worthy prynce
the Duke of Yorke, late called Mayster of the
Game," and identifies the Duke of York here referred
to with Edmund of Langley, the fifth son of Edward
III., who died ist August 1402; and Mr Haslewood
argues, " the word late in the above passage distinctly
shows his name and person were recent in memory
in the time of our author."

There is in existence, in the possession of Mr
Denison, a portion of the treatise in manuscript,
differing somewhat in the orthography and also
slightly in certain passages from the printed work.
Of this manuscript Mr Thomas Satchell printed and
published 400 copies in 1882. He says: —

That it is an independent text cannot be doubted,
and in this opinion we are supported by the high
authority of the Rev. Professor Skeat, who is inclined
to assign it an earlier date than 1450. Though
probably an older form of the treatise printed at
Westminster 1496, it is drawn from the same
original, which, where ever it first came from, was ,
at that time written in our language. The close
correspondence in many passages forbids the idea
that the two versions were independent translations
from another tongue.

The authorship of the Book of St Albans, including
the Treatyse of jfysshynge, appears to have been
attributed to Dame Juliana Berners on very slender
evidence. At the end of that portion of the book
which deals with hunting, there is the following
colophon : " Explicit dame Julyans Bernes." Hence

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 9

the dame Julyans Bernes has been credited with the
authorship of the whole work, and is inferred to have
been a certain Juliana Berners, a daughter of Sir
James Berners, who was beheaded on Tower-hill in
1388 ; and she is further supposed, though upon what
evidence is not clear, to have been the Abbess or
Prioress of Sopwell Nunnery in Hertfordshire.

The following weighty arguments against this
theory are given in the article on Caxton in Dr
Andrew Kippis' Biographia Britannica (2nd ed., 1784,
p. 364 note) : —

But the next most famous book that was printed
at St Albans, and, it seems, with Caxton's letter, is
all we shall here take notice of, as the off-spring in
these early times of that press ; and it is the rather
not to be omitted, because of divers mistakes that
have been made, concerning both it, and its author.
This book treats of Hunting, Hawking, and Heraldry ;
and is ascribed to an illustrious and heroic Lady, of
great gifts in body and mind ; a second Minerva in
her studies, and another Diana in her diversions ; in
short, an ingenious Virago^ as Bale and Pits call her,
who lived about 1460, and yet she was no less than
an Abbess, as Sir Henry Chauncy, or Prioress, as
Dr Middleton stiles her, of the strict and mortified
Nunnery at Sopwell in Hertfordshire ; who says also,
that she was sister to Richard Lord Berners of
Essex. But that the said Juliana Barnes was such
a religious Lady and so nobly descended, no author,
as yet, has attempted to prove. As for the book in
question, it has been sometimes called The Gentle-
man^ s Recreation^ and The Gentleman^ s Academy^ or
book of St Albans. But of the original edition now
before us, there is a colophon comprehending the

10 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

true title, in these words, " Here in thys boke afore ar
contenyt the bokys ^haukyng and huntyng with other
plesuris dyuerse as in the boke apperis and also of
Cootarmuris, a nobull Werke. And here noiv endyth
the boke of blasyng of armys translatyt and compylyt
togedyr at Seynt Albons the yere from thincarnacion
of owre lorde fhfi Crist MCCCCLXXXVI. ... It
seems not, that Bale or Pits ever saw this original
edition, because they also mention with it, a book of
Fishing as of this Lady's writing ; which is not to be
met with, but in the second edition of these tracts,
printed by Wynkin de Worde at Westminster, in
folio 1496 ; and therein it is neither ascribed to her,
nor to any body else ; but only printed in this larger
volume of those subjects relating to the Gentry and
Nobility ; that every idle and ordinary person might
not be able to purchase it, as they would if it had
been published in a little pamphlet by itself" — (" And
for by cause that this present treatyse sholde not
come to the hondys of eche ydle persone whyche
wolde desire it yf it were enpryntyd allone by itself,
& put in a lytyll plaunflet therefore I haue compylyd
it in a greter volume of dyuerse bokys concernynge
to gentyll & noble men, to the entent that the
forsayd ydle persones whyche sholde haue but lytell
mesure in the sayd dysporte of fysshyng sholde
not by this meane utterly destroy e it") — Treatyse of
ffysshynge.

Kippis further ridicules the idea that Mrs Barnes
was " sister to Richard Lord Berners," and concludes
his attack as follows : —

And indeed, such a contrast of characters in one
person, is apt to raise very contesting ideas. One
cannot reconcile the notions those subjects inspire,
of their authors being so expert and so practised
in those robust and masculine exercises, with the

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 11

character of such a sedate, grave, pious, matron-like
Lady, as the Prioress of a Nunnery is imagined to
be ; a conjunction of such extreams, seeming quite
unnatural. Indeed, we have, and so we may have
had, your romping, roaring hoydens, that will be for
horsing and hunting after the wildest game, in the
most giddy company ; but to join so much of these
rough and impetuous diversions, as is required to
obtain the proficiency aforesaid, with the most serene
and solemn profession of a mortified and spiritual
life in herself, and the charge or care of training it
in others, must make an unaccountable mixture. In
that light, there appears such a motley masquerade,
such an indistinction of petticoat and breeches, such
a problem and concorporation of sexes, according to
the image that arises out of the several representa-
tions of this religious Sportswoman or Virago, that
one can scarcely consider it, without thinking Sir
Tristram, the old Monkish Forester, and Juliana,
the Matron of the Nuns, had united to form John
Clevelands Canonical Hermophrodite.

Though I do not think that the evidence is
sufficient to justify the belief that the Treatyse of
ffysshynge was either written or compiled by Dame
Juliana Berners, nevertheless in commenting on the
following extracts, partly perhaps from sentiment,
and partly for convenience, I have adopted the
popular supposition.

In the first few extracts I have followed the
orthography of Mr Denison's manuscript in order
that the reader may, if he wishes, compare it with
the original text {see frontispiece). It commences
as follows : —

" Saloman in hys paraboles seith that a glad spirit

12 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

maket a flowryng age. That ys to sey a feyre age
& a longe and sith hyt ys so I aske this questyon
wyche bynne the menys & cause to reduse a man
to a mery spryte." The authoress assumes that this
is brought about by " good & honeste dysportes," of
which she selects four, hunting, hawking, fowling,
and fishing.

Hunting she considers to be

to gret labur. The hunter must all day renne
& folow hys howndes travelyng & swetyng ful soyr
he blowythe tyl hys lyppys blyster and wen he
wenyt [i.e., supposes] hyt be a hare ful often hit ys
a heyghoge thus he chaset and wen he cumniet
home at even, reyn beton (rain beaten) seyr prykud
with thornes & hys clothes tomes wet schod fulwy
[miry] sum of hys howndes lost som surbatted suche
grevys & meny other to the hunter hapeth.

Hawking is also "laborous and ryght noyous
[troublesome]. The fawkner often tymes leseth hys
hawkes. Full often he cryethe & wystel [whistleth]
tyl he be sor a thryst."

The following extract is taken verbatim from the
Treaty se of ffysshynge wyth an Angle, 1496, but
the orthography of some of the subsequent quota-
tions is slightly modified.

The dysporte & game of fowlynge me semyth
moost symple For in the wynter season the fowler
spedyth not but in the moost hardest and coldest
weder : whyche is greuous. For whan he wolde goo
to his gynnes he maye not for colde. Many a gynne
and many a snare he makyth. Yet soryly dooth he
fare. At morn tyde in the dewe he is weete shode

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 13

unto his taylle. Many other suche I cowde tell : but
drede of magre makith me for to leue. Thus me
semyth that huntynge & hawkynge and also fowlynge
ben so laborous and greuous that none of theym
maye perfourme nor bi very meane that enduce a
man to a mery spyryte : whyche is cause of his longe
lyfe acordynge vnto ye sayd parable of Salamon.
Dowteles thenne folowyth it that it must nedes be
the dysporte of fysshynge with an angle. For all
other manere of fysshyng is also laborous & greuous :
often makynge folkes ful wete & colde, whyche many
tymes hath be seen cause of grete Infirmytees. But
the angler maye haue no colde nor no dysease nor
angre, but yf he causer hymself. For he maye not
lese at the moost but a lyne or an hoke : of whyche
he maye haue store plentee of his owne makynge,
as this symple treatyse shall teche hym. Soo thenne
his losse is not greuous. And other greyffes may he
not haue, sauynge but yf ony fisshe breke away after
that he is take on the hoke, or elles that he catche
nought : whyche ben not greuous. For yf he faylle
of one he maye not faylle of a nother, yf he dooth as
this treatyse techyth : but yf there be nought in the
water. And yet atte the leest he hath his holsom
walke and mery at his ease : a swete ayre of the
swete sauoure of the meede floures : that makyth
hym hungry. He hereth the melodyous armony of
fowles. He seeth the yonge swannes : heerons :
duckes : cotes and many other foules wyth theyr
brodes ; whyche me semyth better than alle the
noyse of honndys : the blastes of horny s and the
scrye of foulis that hunters : fawkeners & foulers
can make. And yf the angler take fysshe : surely
thenne is there noo man merier than he is in his
spyryte. ... %

Thus haue I prouyd to myn entent that the
dysporte & game of anglynge is the very meane
& cause that enducith a man in to a mery spyryte.

14 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

Having thus proved her contention that angling
conduces to a long and a happy life, the worthy
lady proceeds to give detailed instructions how to
make the "harnays." She tells when the wood for
the rod must be cut, the means by which it is to be
straightened, and how it is to be seasoned. The
finished rod is of three pieces of willow, hazel, or
aspen, a fathom and a half long, with a hollow butt.
It was moreover a suitable rod for Sunday fishing,
for " thus shall ye make you a rodde soo preuy that
ye maye walke therewyth : and there shall noo man
wyte where abowte ye goo. It woU be lyghte & full
nymbyll to fysshe wyth at your luste. And for the
more redynesse loo here a fygure therof in example."
She then appends an illustration of a rod far from
"nymbyll." The line was made from the tail of a
white horse of the longest, fairest, and roundest hair
obtainable. Directions follow for staining the line
in six different colours, suitable for different seasons
and varying conditions of water. The colours are
yellow, green, brown, tawny, russet, and dusky
colour. Instructions are given and an instrument
depicted for twisting the hairs into a line. But
the " moost subtyll & hardyste crafte " is in making
the hooks : the small hooks are made from " quarell
nedlys " and the large ones from " gretter nedles :
as broderers nedlis : or taylers : or shomakers nedlis
spere poynte, & of shomakers nalles in especyall."
The authoress describes the way in which the
needles are to be first heated, then barbed and

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 15

pointed, heated again, and bent to a shape of which
an illustration is given.

The lines must vary in strength from a single
hair for a minnow to fifteen hairs for a salmon ; but
angle " for the pyke wyth a chalke lyne made browne
with your browne colour aforsayd: armyd with a
wyre."

The lines must be plumbed with "lede," and the
leads must be "rounde & smothe that they stycke
not on stonys or on wedys."

The floats are to be made from a fair cork that
is clean and without many holes ; they are to be
bored with a hot iron and a quill inserted in the
hole thus made. An illustration is given of five
pear-shaped floats of different sizes.

Having completed her description of the " harnays,"
she proceeds to relate " in what place of the water
ye shall angle."

In a pool there is not " grete choyse of ony places.
For it is but a pryson to fysshe, and they lyue for
the more parte in hungre lyke prisoners : and ther-
fore it is the lesse masttry to take theym.

" But in a ryuer ye shall angle in euery place
where it is depe and clere by the grounde : as
grauell or claye wythout mudde or wedys. And
in especyall yf that there be a manere of whyrlynge
of water or a couert. . . . And it is good for to angle
where as the water restyth by the banke : and where
the streme rennyth nyghe there by."

It is unnecessary to quote the learned dame's

16 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

further directions to the angler verbatim et literatim^
and they are accordingly given in modernized
English.

What time of the day ye shall angle. — From the
beginning of May until it be September the biting
time is early by the morrow from four of the clock
until eight of the clock. And at after noon from
four of the clock until eight of the clock ; but not
so good as in the morning.

And if it be a cold whistling wind or a dark
lowering day. For a dark day is much better to
angle in than a clear day. From the beginning of
September till the end of April spare no time of
the day.

And if ye see any time of the day the trout or
grayling leap angle to him with a dubbe (an artificial
fly) according to the same month.

In what weather ye shall angle. — From September
until April in a fair sunny day is right good to
angle. And if the wind in that have any part of
the Orient, the weather then is nought. And when
it is a great wind, and when it snoweth, raineth, or
haileth, or is a great tempest, as thunder or lighten-
ing, or very hot weather then it is nought for to
Angle.

There be twelve manner of impediments which cause
a man to take no fish without other common causes
which may casually happen.

The first is if your harness be not neat or fitly made.

The second is if your baits be not good nor fine.

The third is if that ye angle not in biting time.

The fourth is if the fish be frightened with the
sight of a man.

The fifth is if the water be very thick white or red
of any flood late fallen.

The sixth is if the fish stir not for cold.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 17

The seventh if that the weather be hot.

The eighth if it rain.

The ninth if it hail or snow fall.

The tenth if it be a tempest.

The eleventh is if it be a great wind.

The twelfth if the wind be in the east, and that is
worst, for commonly neither winter nor summer the
fish will not bite then. The west and north winds
be good, but the south is best.

Baits for every manner of fish and for every month.
— For ye can not bring an hook in to a fishes mouth
without a bait, which baits for every manner of fish
and for every month here followeth in this wise.

Salmon. — The salmon is a gentle fish, but he is
combrous for to. take. His baits are with a red
worm in the beginning and ending of a season. And
also with a bob that breedeth in a dung hill, and
especially with a sovereign bait, that breedeth on a
water-dock. Also ye may take him but it is seldom
seen with a dubbe at such time as when he leapeth.

Trout. — The trout for by cause he is a right
deyntous (dainty) fish and also a right fervent biter
we shall speak next of him. In his leaping time
with a dubbe. Ye shall angle to him in March with
a minnow hanged on your hook by the nether lip
without float or plumb drawing up and down in the
stream until ye fele him fast. The other baits
recommended for a trout are : — The red worm. The
Ineeba also named seven eyes [the River Lamprey].
The Canker that breedeth in a great tree. The red
snail. The stone fly. The cow-dung worm. The
silk worm. The bait that breedeth on a fern leaf
A cod worm. A flesh fly. Fat of bacon.

For the Grayling a somewhat similar, but shorter
selection is given.

The Barbel is a sweat fish but is a quasy meat and
perilous for man's body. And if he be eaten raw,
he may be cause of man's death which hath often

B

18 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

been seen. These be his baits. Fresh cheese toasted
in a candle. Hawthorn worm. Great red worm.
Cod worm. Water dock leaf worm. Hornet worm.
In August and for all the year take the tallow of
a sheep and soft cheese of each a like amount,
and a little honey and grind or stamp them together
long and temper it until it be tough and put thereto
flour a little and make it into small pellets. And it
is a good bait to angle with at the ground. And
loke that it sink in the water, or else it is not good
to this purpose.

The Carp is a dainty fish but there be but few in
England and so I write the less of him. But well
I wot that the red worm and the minnow be good
bait for him at all times.

The Chevm [Chub] is a stately fish and his head
is a dainty morsel. And because he is a strong biter,
he hath the more baits which be these. Red worms.
Stone flies. Red snails. Silk worms. Crickets, Cock-
chafers, Grass hoppers. Bumble bees, Hornets, Young
bees, Young frogs, Young mice, Maggots, Cherries.

For Bream, which is a noble fish and dainty, the
baits are Red worm, butter-flies, Maggots.

A Tench is a right good fish and healeth all other
manner of fish that be hurt if they may come to him.
He is for the most part of the year in the mud. He
is an evil biter; his baytes be these. For all the
year brown bread toasted with honey in likeness of
a buttered loaf, and the great red worm.

The Perch is a dainty fish and passing wholesome
and a free biter and these be his baits : — a variety
of worms including the dung hill worm and the Cod
worm, and maggots.

The Roach is an easy fish to take and if he be fat
and pennyed (probably *well finned' ix., in good
condition) then he is good meat and these be his
baits : Red worm. Cod worm, House flies, Maggots,
Fat of bacon.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 19

The Dace is a gentle fish to take. The baits
mentioned are much the same as those for the roach.
For commonly their biting and their baits be like.

The Bleak be but a feeble fish yet he be whole-
some. The baits are the same as for the Roach and
dace.

The Ruffe is a right and wholesome fish. The
baits are the same as those given for the perch.

The Gudgeon is a good fish of the mochenes \i.e.^ of
its size]. Baits : Codworm, Red Worm, Maggots.

The Minnow when he shineth in the water then
he is a biter. The baits are the same as for the
gudgeon only they must be smaller.

The Eel is a quasy fish and a ravenor and a
devourer of the brood of fish. And for the pike also
is a devourer of fish I put them both behind all
others to angle. The baits are a great angyll twitch
[earth worm] or a minnow.

The Pike is a good fish : but for that he devoureth
so many as well of his own kinde as of other, I love
him the less. And for to take him you shall do this.
Take a codling hook and take a roach or a fresh
herring, and a wire with a hole in the end and put
it in at the mouth and out at the tail down by the
ridge of the fresh herring and then put the line of
your hook in after and draw the hook into the cheek
of the fresh herring.

A float and lead are to be attached to the line,
and the tackle is cast to a spot where the pike
" useth." An alternative method is described, in
which a frog is used, in place of the fresh herring;
the frog is sometimes dipped into asafoetida in order
that it may prove more attractive to the pike.

From the frequency with which the following way
of capturing pike appears in old angling works, it

20 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

evidently ranked highly as a sporting method in
olden times : — And if ye list to have a good sport,
then tye the cord to a goose's foot, and ye shall see
good hauling whether the goose or the pike shall
have the better.

Having thus described fully the special baits for
each kind of fish, our authoress gives general direc-
tions for keeping and feeding the living baits. The
instructions for scouring the maggots are especially
quaint, and I doubt if the hardiest and most
" manly " of lady anglers of the present day would
care to fully carry them out. The maggots are to
be first fattened on sheep's tallow and on a cake
made with flour and honey, and when ye have
cleaned them with sand in a bag of blanket kept
under your gown ^ or other warm thing, two hours or
three, then be they best and ready to angle with.
A list of baits is given to last all the year, and
among the baits for roach and dace is the present
popular one of simmered wheat. Take wheat and
sethe it well, and then put it in blood all a day and
a night and it is a good bayte. The practice of
placing the boiled wheat in blood is not followed
now, but very probably the bait loses in attractive-
ness from neglect of this detail.

Recent angling writers, with a few exceptions,
devote little attention to a very useful and scientific
method of determining the bait to be used ; viz., the
examination of the contents of the stomach of the
first fish caught. Nearly all the old angling writers

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 21

draw attention to the value of this practice. Juliana
Berners recommends it as follows : — For baits for
great fish keep specially this rule. When ye have
taken a great fish undo the maw, and what ye find
there make that your bait, for it is best.

The practical portion of the book concludes with
the following list of twelve artificial flies, with
directions how to tie them.

For March two kinds of Dun Fly are given.

For April the Stone Fly, and another fly for the
beginning of May.

For May the Yellow Fly. The Black Louper.

For June the Dun Cutte. The Maure Fly. The
Tandy Fly.

For July the Wasp Fly. The Shell Fly.

For August the Drake Fly.

The most charming portions of this interesting
work are the introductory and the concluding parts ;
the latter dealing with the angling morals which the
authoress seeks to inculcate. The work indicates
throughout a high ideal of sport, and it is evident
that the gross-weight and other fishing competitions
of present times would have found no favour in her
eyes.

Ye that can angle and fish to your pleasures as
this foresaid treatise teacheth and sheweth you, I
charge and require you in the name of all noble men
that ye fish in no man's severall water : as his pond,
stew, or other necessary thing to keep fish in without
his license and good will.

And also if ye shall do in like manner as this

22 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

treatise sheweth you, ye shall have no need to take
of other men's : whilst ye shall have enough of your
own taking if you choose to labour thereto, which
shall be to you a very pleasure to see the fair bright
shining scaled fishes deceived by your crafty means
and drawn upon land. Also that you break no man's
hedges in going about your disports, nor open no
man's gates, but that ye shut them again. Also that
ye shall not use this aforesaid crafty disport for no
covetousness to the increasing and sparing of your
money only, but principally for your solace and to
cause the health of your body and especially of your
soul. For when ye purpose to go on your disports in
fishing you will not desire greatly many persons with
you, which might let [i.e., hinder] you of your game.
And then ye may serve God devoutly in saying
afifectuously your customable prayer. And thus
doing ye shall eschew and avoid many vices, as
idleness which is the principle cause to enduce man
to many vices, as is right well known. Also ye shall
not be too ravenous in taking of your said game as
too much at one time, which ye may lightly do, if ye
do in every point as this present treatise sheweth you
in every point, which should lightly be occasion to
distroy your own disports and other men's also. As
when ye have a sufficient mess ye should covet no
more at that time. Also ye shall busy yourselfes to
nourish the game in all that ye may : and to destroy
all such things as be devourers of it.

And all those that done after this rule shall have
the blessing of God and Saint Peter, which he them
grant that with his precious blood was bought.

CHAPTER II

For more than a hundred years after the publication
of The Book of St Albans no new work on angling
was printed in England ; there must, however, have
been a demand for sporting literature, for between
the years 1500 and 1596, no less than fourteen
undated editions of The Book of St Albans were
printed.

About the year 1 500 the Treaty se of j^ysshynge wyth
an Angle was printed separately, and it is to be hoped
that its publication in that form did not bring it into
the " hondys of eche ydle persone."

In 1590 there was published A Booke of fishing
with Hooke and Line and of all other instruments
there unto belonging. Made by L. M.

Leonard Mascall, the author of this book, was a
member of an old Sussex family living at Plumstead
in that county ; he was Clerk of the Kitchen of Mathew
Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury : he also drew up
the Parish Register of Farnham Royal, Buckingham-
shire, inserting in it the injunctions of Cromwell
concerning the keeping of Registers, and prefixing

24 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

some verses on the proper keeping of the book. He
was buried in the parish of Farnham Royal, on loth
May 1589.

Mascall appears to have been rather a translator of
foreign writers than an author, for among other works,
he translated from the Dutch, A profitable booke
declaring dyvers approved remedies ^ to take out spottes
and Staines in Silkes, 1588, and A very proper Treatise
on Limming. The introduction of the carp into
England has been attributed to Mascall, and in a
work entitled The Angler's Sure Guide ^ printed 1706,
the following passage occurs : — " Carps have not been
of very antient standing in England, as appears by
what follows : Carps were first brought into England
by one Mr Mascall of Plumstead in Sussex, 15 H.8.
Anno Dom. 1524 who stored his Ponds with them
there."

The fact of the carp being mentioned in the
Treaty se of fi^ysshyng wyth an Angle y proves the date
mentioned to be incorrect, and the following passage
in Mascall's book probably gave rise to the above
statement : — " The Carpe also is a straunge and
daintie fish to take, his baites are not well knowne,
for he hath not long beene in this realme. The first
bringer of them into England (as I have beene
credibly enformed) was maister Mascoll of Plumsted
in Sussex, who also brought first the planting of the
Pippin in England." It is possible that Mascall,
writing, as he was in this case, anonymously, was
here attempting to attach either to himself or to

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 25

one of his family the credit of the importation of
this fish. There were four editions of A Booke of
Fishing (1590, 1596, 1600, and 1606), and a reprint
was published by Mr Satchell in 1884.

There is a copy of the first edition of Mascall's very
scarce book in the British Museum. On the title-
page there is a small woodcut, representing a man
sitting on the left bank of a small stream, fishing
with rod and line : on the opposite bank a man is
shown setting a " whippe or spring trappe."

The angling portion of the work begins at page 3
and ends with page 23. Since it is practically
the same as the Treatyse of ffysshyng wyth an
Angle, from which it evidently has been copied,
no comment upon it is necessary, save perhaps the
observation that it contains no acknowledgment of
debt.

The remainder of the work is very interesting, as
being the first notice of fish culture and the preserva-
tion of fish in the English language. It is very
doubtful how much of this is original. Mr Satchell
has proved in the preface to his reprint (1884) that
a considerable portion of it has been taken from
V Agriculture et Maison rustique de M. Charles
Estienne, Docteur a Medicine. A Paris, che!:; Jacques
Du Pays, 1570.

Indeed, Mascall acknowledges that he took some of
his books from " Stephanus in French," and it is by
no means unlikely that he also obtained informa-
tion from some Dutch author. The motives by which

26 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

the writer is actuated, when having explained how
to catch the fish, he shows how to preserve them,
are certainly praiseworthy, and it would be a good
thing if more anglers at the present time were
influenced by like motives to contribute to the re-
stocking funds connected with the rivers in which
they are accustomed to angle.

The second part of the book begins as follows : —

Here is how to save and preserve fish.

For so much as I have afore shewed certaine
waies and practices how to take fish in rivers, pooles,
and standing waters. I will here declare certaine
waies how for to maintaine fish, and the chiefest waies
to save and preserve them in rivers, pooles and
standing waters, against such devourers and raverers
as hath and will destroy them, as Heme, the Dob-
chicke, the Coote, the Cormorant, the Sea -pie, the
Kings fisher and such like : as also the Otter, who is
a common destroier of pondes and standing waters,
. . . which shall be declared in their places.

The " Hearne," which is " fearfulle and subtill," is to
be taken by a hook, baited with a small fish, and
placed in water about half a foot deep.

The Otter or " water wolfe " is to be caught " in
a wele made and devised for the nonce." A woodcut
of the otter weel is given ; it resembles a large eel-
basket, differing only in size from the eel weels or
baskets in use at the present day.

The " Water-ratte " is hard to take, but he may
be caught in a small otter weel or in a more compli-
cated form of trap fitted with a latch and iron spikes,

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 27

or if he cannot be caught in either of these ways, he
must be poisoned.

To preserve spawn in spawning time,

A Chiefe way to save spawne of fish in March,
Aprill, and May, is thus, ye shall make fagots of
wheate, or rie strawe, all whole straw not bruised,
or of reede, binde these faggots together with three
bondes, and all about thereon sticke of young branches
of willowe. Then cast them in the water among
weedes, or by the bankes, and put in each faggot two
good long stakes, driven fast to the ground, and let
your fagots lie covered in the water halfe a yeard or
more. So the fish will come and shed their spawne
thereon, and then it will quicken therein, so that
no other fish can come to destroy or eate it, and
as they waxe quicke they will come foorth and save
themselves.

Thus much for the preserving of spawne in the
spring and spawning time : this is a good practise
to preserve the spawne of all scaled fish. These
fagots ye may make and lay in all rivers, poundes,
or standing waters. Your fagots had neede to be a
yeard and a halfe long, and bound with three bandes
not hard, two bandes a foote from the endes, and
an other bande in the middest, and lay them as
I have afore declared. Also some doe use to hedge
in corners in rivers and pondes with willow, and
thereon fish doe cast their spawne and so breedes.

Mascall describes a method of taking " Sea pies.
Crows, and other Pyes," which is repeated in many
subsequent works on angling. Two small ozier twigs
are bound together crossways near the end, a bait
is attached to them by a short thread, and the
twigs are anointed with bird - lime. The trap thus

28 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

prepared is placed on a rush or weed, and the bird
on flying away with the bait in its bill, becomes so
smeared on its wings with the bird-lime, that it cannot
fly, falls down, and is caught. The "Kyte," how-
ever, is too wily to be caught in this way as he flies
away with the bait in his feet.

The following extract shows the author's sportsman-
like abhorrence of all poaching methods : —

It is a good thing to haue plentie of fresh water
fish, in riuers and pooles, and standing waters : and
a great pleasure for man sometimes to take with
his angle a dish of fish in those waters whereas fish
is plentie and well preserued, not to vse any other
engins, but with the hooke : and by such meanes as
the lawes of this realme doth permit and allow, not
to vse fire, handguns, crossebowes, oyles, ointments,
pouders, and pellets made to cast in the waters to
stonny and poyson the fish, nor yet to vse all sortes of
nets, and such as are deuourers of fish, as bow nets,
casting nets, small trammels, shoue nets, and draught
nets : which are destroyers of fish before they are
growen to any bignesse. These are not meete to be
vsed but of certaine Gentlemen in their seuerall
waters, I would wish no running waters should be
let to any fisher man, without order what mesh,
what nets, he or they shall vse to fish with, and in
what moneths of the yeare to refraine fishing, vpon
paine to forfaite his lease and all such engins.

Mascall goes on to advise restocking with the
burbot or eel pout, a fish now nearly extinct in
England, and not to be confounded with the viviparous
eel pout of salt water : —

Also it shall be good for all Gentlemen and others,

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 29

hauing the gouernment of any riuers, brookes, or
standing pooles, to replenish them with all such
kinde of fish as may there be preserued or bred, as-
well of straying as others. There is a kinde of fish in
Holand, in the fennes besides Peterborrow, which they
call a poult, they be like in making and greatnesse
to the Whiting, but of the cullour of the Loch : they
come foorth of the fenne brookes, into the riuers nigh
there about, as in Wansworth riuer there are many
of them. They stirre not all the sommer, but in
winter when it is most coldest weather. There they
are taken at Milles in Welles, and at wayers likewise.
They are a pleasant meate, and some do thinke they
would be aswell in other riuers and running waters,
as Huntington, W^are, and such like, if those waters
were replenished with them, as they may be with
small charge. They haue such plentie in the fenne
brookes, they feede their hogges with them. If other
riuers were stored with them, it would be good for a
common wealth, as the Carpe which came of late
yeares into England. Thus much for the fenne pult.

Further directions are included for the cultivation
of Miller's thumbs, "loches," and cray fish. A
description is also given of the methods of sniggling
and bobbing for eels.

Mascall gives a variety of ground baits with which
to attract the different kinds of fish : the first one
contains " Salarmoniache eight drams, Scallion onions
one dram, fat of veale ten drachms " ; this ground
bait is intended for trout, which will ''come them-
selves to the smell thereof, and so ye may take
them."

To take Loches or small fish.

Take the branne of wheate meale, two pound, of

30 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

lenten pease halfe a pound, mixe them together, and
beate them with a sufficient quantitie of brine, and
put thereto halfe a pound of sessame. Then shall ye
part it in peeces and throw them here and there :
... all the small fish will come unto it, and remaine
in one place, although they be 300 paces off.

A variety of other ground baits are described, of
which the angler must make small pellets, " and cast
it where ye will have the fish to come an houre before
ye cast in your lines."

The ground bait for the salmon, Mascall acknow-
ledges as " thus much more taken from Stephanus in
French."

A very modern-looking illustration and description
of the circular drop-net for minnows, such as is used
at the present time, is given. He calls it the " Gase
for to catch Menowes " : —

This Gase, is a round net of small mesh, with a
hoope of yeirne, or great wier halfe an intch about,
and to let sinke in a ditch, or brooke which is not
deepe, and so holde it a while by three strings like a
ballans, with a loope in the toppe, and therein to
put through a staffe or a poale, ... ye must
hang a small plommet in the middest to make it
sinke . . . and the squares must be scarlet or red
cloth sowed on.

After discussing the angling laws in force in
France, Mascall gives expression to a pregnant
lament in reference to the state of angling affairs in
his time : —

And being then out of season, they are not so

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 31

holesome nor yet good of liking. All these afore
mentioned with all other which are out of season,
are forbid to be taken and solde in Markets [of
France], or otherwise prively eaten, upon the like
penaltie afore mentioned. I would to God it were
so here with us in England and to have more pre-
servers, and lesse spoylers of fish out of season, and
in season : then we should have more plentie than
we have through this Realme. Also I would wish
that all stoppe nets, and drags with casting nets, were
banished in all common rivers through this Realme
for three moneths : as in March, Aprill, and May.

In 1600 a book was printed, entitled Certaine
experiments concerning fish and fruite : practised by
John Taverner^ Gentleman^ and by hint published for
the benefit of others.

There is a copy of this very rare work in the
British Museum ; only one edition is now known,
though Wood {A thence Oxon) states that it was
printed several times.

John Taverner, the author, was the Surveyor of
the King's Woods on the south side of the River
Trent. He died in 1606, and was buried at
Upminster in Essex (Wood's Athencs Oxon.). His
book, unlike Mascall's work, appears to be original,
and not a mere compilation and translation from
foreign authors. It is certainly deserving of more
attention than it has hitherto received from writers
on old sporting literature. The author was evidently
a keen naturalist and a scientific observer ; his know-
ledge of the habits of fish was well in advance of
the time in which he lived ; he scoffs at the heresies

32 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

of the spontaneous generation of fish from weeds,
which Walton, v/riting more than half a century later,
repeats from Gesner ; and as a work on pisciculture,
his book is a far more valuable one than Roger
North's, written in 171 3. Taverner dedicates his book
to the " Right Honorable Sir Edmond Anderson
Knight, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas."

The book commences : " First it is requisite to
speake of ponds," of which he describes two kinds,
"the one digged right downe into the ground by
labour of man, and the other made with a head in a
valley betweene two hils."

He directs that the ponds should be stored in
" January, February, or March : after which time it
is not good to carry or handle any fish all the
summer time, until it be October or November."

The above rule is observed at the present day in
regard to the transit of fish for restocking purposes.

He divides fish into two classes, the "ravening"
fish, and those which live upon corn, roots, worms,
etc. The ravening fish are the pike, the trout, and
the eel. As examples of the other class he mentions
carp, bream, and tench.

The following is the first mention of the carp
family having their teeth in their throat ; the credit
of first recording this fact has been erroneously
awarded to William Lawson, who wrote twenty
years later : —

The fore sayd devouring fish have only dog-teeth

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 33

or sharpe teeth, wherewith they bite and hold any
other fish that they take. . . . The other kind do
not so : but having teeth only like unto Man, broad
and flat, do grind and chew all their meat before they
swallow it : and it is unnaturall for the Carpe,
Breame, Tench, or Roach to eat another raw fish, as
it is for a sheep or a cow to eat raw flesh. The
sharpe and devouring teeth in the Pike, Perch,
Trought and Eele, are easily seene and perceived,
but so are not the flat grinding teeth in the other
kind of fish. Howbeit if you search diligently the
head of the Carpe, Breame, or any other of that
nature, and of any bignesse, when it is sodden you
shall find two neather jawes, having in each jaw a
row of flat teeth, like to the eye teeth in a man, and
apt to grind and chew withall, with which two
neather jawes they grind their meate against a
certaine flat bone in the roofe of their mouth, or
upper part of their throte.

Yarrell, in his British Fishes^ quotes from a paper
which a Mr Jacobs contributed to the Hanover
Magazine, in 1763, the following statement in regard
to the impossibility of breeding trout in standing
waters : —

1. According to the course of nature, no Trouts or
Salmon are generated in ponds or standing waters.

2. They cannot be bred there if millions of
pregnant eggs were put into them.

Taverner anticipated these observations by about
163 years : —

Neither will the Trought spawne in any standing
poole, but will live and grow very fat and good . . .
and will also be very fat and good all the winter long
by reason he doth not spawne as afore sayd.

c

34 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

He gives the " proportion of fish according to the
greatnesse of your pond." Four hundred carp,
bream, or tench of 8 or lo inches long may be kept
for every acre of pond. A pond of four acres, how-
ever, will better keep 1600, than a pond of two acres
will keep 800.

The following appears to be rather an exaggerated
estimate of the rate of growth of the pike : —

The Pike is in no wise to be admitted to your great
ponds, with your other fish, he is so great a devourer,
and will grow so fast having his fill of feeding, that
being but eight or ten inches in the beginning of
Sommer, he may be eighteene or twentie inches
before Hollantide, at what time he will eate more
fish every day than will sufifice a man.

Taverner recommends that the fish-ponds should
lie dry every other year, as in this way they can be
kept cleaner, more natural food can be obtained for
the fish, and overcrowding can be prevented.

The following extract shows the keen powers of
observation of the author : —

I have seene a young flie swimme in the water too
and fro, and in the end come to the upper crust of
the water, and assay to flie up : howbeit not being
perfitly ripe or fledge, hath twice or thrice fallen
downe againe into the water : howbeit in the end
receiving perfection by the heate of the sunne, and
the pleasant fat water, hath in the ende within
some halfe houre after taken her flight, and flied
quite awaie into the ayre. And of such young
flies before they are able to flie awaie, do fish feede
exceedingly.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 35

I was recently told by a head gardener at the
Oxford Botanical Gardens that he had been for a
long time puzzled why the goldfish in his tanks did
not breed ; on watching them more closely he
observed that when two fish paired off for the
exercise of their reproductive functions, they were
followed about the tank by the other fish, who
promptly devoured the spawn as soon as it was
deposited. Subsequently on removing the fish to
another tank as soon as they were observed to pair
off in this manner, a large stock of young goldfish
was ultimately reared. Taverner mentions eels
following other fish and devouring their spawn in
a similar manner : —

When the Carps, Breams, Tenches, or Roches do
lay their spawne in egges in spawning time, you shall
many times see sixe, ten, or more small Eeles follow
them, and as the spawne falleth from them they eate
it, as also Duckes will do the like. Afterward so
soone as it is quicke, the Eele, and especially the
Perch will devour it in great quantitie before it be
able to swimme any thing fast.

The ingendring and breeding of the like fish as
aforesaid I have noted to be in this manner, some-
time in May, and sometime in June, as the season
happeneth to fall out apt for generation, the water by
Gods providence having then a naturall warmth to
performe the same, the male fish by course of nature,
will chase about the female, seeking copulation : and
as in all other creatures, so in this the female seemeth
to shun and flie from the male, so that you shall see
three, foure, or five male fish, chase one female, and
so hold her in on everie side, that they will force her

36 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

to swimme through weedes, grasse, rushes, straw, or
any such like thing that is in the pond, wherein she
being intangled and wearied with their chasing, they
find opportunitie to joyne in copulation with her,
mingling their milt with her spawne, sometime one
of them, sometime another, at which time the spawne
falleth from her like little egges, and sticketh fast to
the sayd weedes : some eight, nine, or ten dayes after
which time it quickneth, taketh life, and hath the
proportion of a fish : yea two or three dayes before it
quicken, if you take such an egge and breake it uppon
your naile, you shall perceive the proportion of a fish
therein. After it is quicke it mooveth very little for
some fortnight or three weekes, and then it gathereth
together into sculles by the shore side, where the
water is shallow: howbeit the Tench frie will lie
scattering in the weedes, and not flote in sculles.

It is generally stated that the migration of the eel
was not properly described until the eighteenth
century : it is therefore surprising to find Taverner,
in 1600, giving a clear description of this
phenomenon.

The method of generation of the eel is one of great
interest, on account of the remarkable theories which
have from time to time been propounded in regard to
it. I have, therefore, in the course of this book drawn
attention to the different opinions held on this point
by the old angling writers.

Among other theories the following methods of
generation of this fish have at different times been
described. Oppian held that eels were bred from the
slime on their bodies, Aristotle believed that they
sprang from the mud, Pliny thought that they

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 37

originated from fragments rubbed off their bodies by
friction against the rocks, Helm on t stated that they
came from the May dew, others have expressed the
belief that they originate from horse hair, gills of fish,
from dead animals thrown into the water, etc.

Perhaps, however, the most extraordinary theory
in regard to the propagation of these fish was that
elaborately described by a certain North Country
weaver, by name David Cairncross, who, as a result
of many years of patient research, published in 1862,
a small treatise entitled The Origin of the Silver
Eel, in which he announced that the progenitor of
the silver eel was a small beetle. The frontispiece of
his book represents a variety of water beetle lying
on its back in a pool of water, giving birth to twin
eels. It is curious to find that a similar belief was
held in Sardinia; according to Jacoby, the water
beetle, Dytiscus roeselii, is there believed to be the
progenitor of the eel, and is accordingly called the
" Mother of Eels." According to The Riverside
Natural History (1888), "the assignment of such
maternity to the water beetle is doubtless due to
the detection of the hair-worm, or Gordius, in the
insect by sharp-sighted but unscientific observers,
and, inasmuch as the beetle inhabits the same
waters as the eel, a very illogical deduction has
led to connect the two together."

For a long time it was held that eels were viviparous,
and as recently as 1840, Blaine, in his most excellent
Encyclopcedia of Rural Sports, stated that "The eel is

38 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

viviparous, and appears to choose the sea as its
spawning (?) place," He, moreover, quotes from a Dr
Shaw, who held that " both eggs and ready formed
young are occasionally observed in the same
individuals."

Ovaries were first discovered in the eel in 1707,
by Dr Sancassini, of Comacchio; they were sub-
sequently more fully described by Mondini and
Miiller, and in 1824 were figured by Rathke. In
1873 the ijiale organ was recognised by Dr Syrski.
The delay in finding the distinguishing organs of the
male fish gave rise to the erroneous idea that eels
were hermaphrodites. It was not until quite recently
(1896) that the various stages in the reproduction of
the eel were fully revealed by Professor Grassi, of
Rome.

The occasional presence of small eels in land-
locked waters is probably due to their having
entered these lakes or ponds, either during flood
time, or over land, since : — " There is no doubt that
Eels occasionally quit the water, and when grass
meadows are wet from dew, or other causes, travel
during the night over the moist surface in search
of frogs and other suitable food, or to change their
situation " (Yarrell's British Fishes).

The following is Taverner's account of the migra-
tion! of the eel: —

And if there run any water from your pond, you
shall not possible keepe Eeles out of the same,
they will come into the same against the streame.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 39

Their manner of breeding is very uncertaine and
unknowne, but undoubtedly they are bred in the
brackish or sea water : and at the first full Moone
in Maie they begin to come into all great rivers,
and out of great rivers into lesser rivers, and
out of those lesser rivers into all small brookes,
rils and running waters, continually against the
streame all the beginning of Sommer : as like-
wise with the first floud that commeth about
Michelmas, they covet to go downe the streame, and
will not stay untill they come into the deepe and
brackish waters, if they be not taken or letted by
the way. I know that some hold the opinion
that they breede of the Maie deaw,^ for proofe
whereof they say if you cut up two turfes of grasse
in a May morning, and clap the grassie sides of those
turfes together, and so lay them in a river, you shall
next day find small young Eeles betweene the sayd
turfes : and so you shall indeede for the most part do.
Howbeit not therefore they do breede of the deaw.
. . . The reason is, at that time of yeare that river
being full of such young Eeles, they will creepe into
every thing that is sweete and pleasant.

In a marginal note the author states : —

Eeles come from the brackish and sea water. In
the river of Severne I have seene great store of these
small Eele frie taken going against the streame and
so do most other fish in the spring time. Fish covet
to go downe the streame in the latter end of the
Sommer.

The following list of baits shows that the author
was an angler as well as a pisciculturist : —

I have found that the Carpe, Breame, and

^ See YarrelPs British~Fishes^ 2nd ed., vol. ii., p. 387.

40. ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

Tench, being used to feeding, will bite at the
red worme, paste made of dough, or the gras-
hopper, most part of the Sommer season. The
Tench also is a fish very easilie taken in a Bownet,
and whosoever hath of them in his ponds, it
behooveth him to take great heede that he be not
deceived by leud people.

Taverner incorrectly states that the Roach will
not spawn in any ponds : —

The shallow ^ or pond Roch with the red fins will
spawne in most ponds. The river Roch^ and Dace
will not spawne in any pond : howbeit if your pond
be neare any river, and that there runne any water
from it in the Sommer time, you shall find that
they will come into the same against the streame,
where you would think it unpossible : and so will
Pickerell and Perch. And I have heard some affirme
very constantly, that water-fowle do often times bring
the spawne of such fish in their feathers into ponds.
Others will affirme, that the heat of the Sunne may
draw up such spawne of fish before it be quicke,
and so the same taking life in the moist ayre, may
afterward fall downe in a shower of raine into a
pond : the reason that hath mooved many men so to
thinke, is, because they have found such kind of fish
in their ponds, where they are sure that they nor any
other have ever put any such. Howbeit surely the
same have come into the sayd ponds against the
streame, as aforesaid, in Sommer flouds, and not by
any such other monstrous generation, as is last afore
mentioned.

I will conclude my extracts from this very interest-

^ Shallow or Rudd, Leuciscus erythrophthalmus.
2 The Roach, Leuciscus rutilus*

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 41

ing book with the instructions which are given for
the transportation of trout : —

The troughts must be very charily handled in their
carriage, and a few of them caried in a great deale
of faire and cleane water, and that in cold weather,
and may be not handled with l^ands, but in a hand
net very charily.

CHAPTER III

In all catalogues of old works on angling the follow-
ing book is included, though except for its misleading
title, it contains nothing to warrant its inclusion.

A BOOKE OF ANGLING OR FISHING

WHEREIN IS SHEWED BY CONFERENCE WITH SCRIPTURES, THE

AGREEMENT BETVVEENE THE FISHERMAN, FISHES, FISHING OF

BOTH NATURES TEMPORALL AND SPIRITUALL

By SAMUEL GARDINER

Doctor of Divinitie, London

PRINTED by THOMAS PURFOOT
1606

The contents of the book are thus summed up by
the author : — " The summe of the following Treatise
is abridged in these two verses : —

" Ecclesiam pro nave rego mihi climata mundi
Sunt mare : scriptura retia : piscis homo.

TH E

Secrets of Angling:

TEACHING,
The GhoifeQ Toolcs hgytcs and fcafons/orthc taking of
any Filh, in Pond or Riuer; pradjfcdand familW
arly opened in three Bookcs.

Printed at Lmd*nSot 'Keger Uckion^^ndsirctohc foold.-^
at his fliop nccre Plcctftrcct Goaduit , i ^ i j» y/^

Title-page of 7"-^^ Secrets of Angling.

{To face page 43.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 43

" Which I deliver in English thus : —

" The church I governe as a shippe
Wee, Seas with world compare
The scriptures are enclosing nettes
And men the fishes are."

Of the old angling works there are three which
stand out from the rest and form a class by them-
selves of pre-eminent interest and value. The first
of these, the Treaty se of ffysshynge wyth an Angle ^
we have already dealt with ; the second. The Secrets
of Anglings we have now to discuss; and the third,
Walton's deservedly famous Compleat Angler, will be
considered in a later chapter.

The Secrets of Angling, by J. D., was first published
in 1613, and while it revealed many secrets of
angling, the secret of its author's name was for
many years unsolved. Walton attributed the work
to John Davors ; Howlett and others to Donne or
Davies. It was not until 181 1 that the author's
name was discovered to be John Dennys, from the
following entry in the Stationers' Registers, "23 Non.
Martii" 1612 {i,e. 1613): "Master Roger Jackson
entred for his copie under thands of Master Mason
and Master Warden Hooper, a booke called The
Secrets of Angling, teaching the choysest tooles,
bates, and seasons, for the taking of any fish, in pond,
or river, practised and opened in three bookes by
John Dennys Esquier, Vid."

Dennys was a member of an old Gloucestershire
family residing at Pucklechurch in that county. A

44 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

stream, dividing the parish of Pucklechurch from the
parish of Dyrham, is one of the sources of a brook
called the Boyd, which Dennys mentions in his book,
a fact which would afford confirmation, were it
needed, of his claim to the authorship of the work : —

And thou, sweet Boyd, that with thy watry sway
Dost wash the cliffs of Deignton and of Weeke.
And through their Rockes with crooked winding way,
Thy mother Avon runnest softe to seeke ;
In whose fayre streams the speckled Trout doth play.

Usually when an author attempts to teach the
practice of an art in a poem, his work either pos-
sesses no poetic value or else is too vague and
indefinite to be of any service in teaching the art ;
perhaps, however, the most common result of such
an attempt is that it fails both as a poem and as
a treatise.

In the difficult task of combining poetry and
instruction it must be admitted that Dennys, in The
Secrets of Angling, has been completely successful ;
for whether his work be viewed as a poem or as a
practical treatise, it deserves the highest praise. From
a practical point of view it possesses that merit very
rare in angling books, originality ; and the value of
the instructions given, is shown by the extent to
which they have been copied in the prose works
which followed it. Some of the advice, as for
instance, that in regard to the colour of the angler's
clothes, remains unaltered in angling books at the
present day; while to show the high estimation in

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 45

which The Secrets of Angling is held by literary
authorities, I quote the following from Mr Watkin's
valuable article on John Dennys in the Dictionary of
National Biography : —

As for The Secrets of Angling itself, it is sufficient
to say that no more musical and graceful verses were
ever written on the art of angling. The author has
chosen a measure at once sweet and full of power, and
its interlinked melodies lure the reader onward with
much the same kind of pleasure as the angler experi-
ences, who follows the murmuring of a favourite trout
stream.

Four editions, 1613, 1620 (?), 1630, and 1652, and
several reprints of The Secrets have been published.

Of the first edition only three perfect copies are
known, and from one of these in the Bodleian
Library I have taken the following copious extracts,
selected chiefly on account of their practical bearing.
I am able also, thanks to the courtesy of the Librarian
of that Institution, to present a photographic facsimile
of the title-page.

The book is thus dedicated by the printer, Roger
Jackson : —

To the worthy, and my mvch respected Friend,
Mr John Harborne, of Tackley^ in the County of
Oxford^ Esquire, Worthy Syr, this Poeme being sent
vnto me to be printed after the death of the Author,
who intended to haue done it in his life, but was
preuented by death : I could not among my good
friends, bethinke me of any one to whom I might
more fitly dedicate it, . . . R. I.

46 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

A short poem follows the dedication : " In due
praise of this Praise - worthy Skill and Worke," by
"Jo. Davies."

The work is divided into three books : —

The First Booke.

Of Angling, and the Art thereof I sing,
What kinde of Tooles it doth behoue to haue
And with what pleasing bayt a man may bring
The Fish to bite within the watery waue. . . .

You Nymphs that in the Springs and Waters sweet,

Your dwelling haue, of euery Hill and Dale,

And oft amidst the Meadows greene doe meet

To sport and play, and heare the more the Nightingale j

And in the Riuers fresh doe wash your feet,

While Progncs sister tels her wofull tale :

Such ayde and power vnto my verses lend.

As may suffice this little worke to end.

Having thus invoked the aid of the nymphs, the
author proceeds to state "The time for prouiding
Angle Rods." He prefers the hazel to the cane rod,
and gives his reason for the preference in the
following lines : —

So shalt thou haue alwayes in store the best,
And fittest Rods to serue thy turne aright ;
For not the brittle Cane, nor all the rest,
I like so well, though it be long and light.
Since that the Fish are frighted with the least
Aspect of any glittering thing, or white :

Nor doth it by one halfe so well incline,
As doth the plyant rod to save the line.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 47

This is followed by instructions how " to make the
line":—

Then get good Hayre, so that it be not blacke,

Neither of Mare nor Gelding let it be ;

Nor of the tyreling lade that beares the packe :

But of some lusty Horse or Courser free,

Whose bushie tayle, upon the ground doth tracke,

Like blazing Comete that sometimes we see :

From out the midist thereof the longest take,
At leysure best your Linkes & Lines to make.

The directions for making the cork floats are
almost identical with those given in the Book of St
Albans. The angler at this period is able to buy
his hooks : —

Then buy your Hookes the finest and the best
That may be had of such as use to sell,
And from the greatest to the very least
Of every sort pick out and chuse them well.
That Hooke I love that is in compasse round
Like to the print that Pegasus did make.

His Shank should neither be too short nor long,

His point not over sharpe, nor yet too dull :

The substance good that they may indure from wrong ;

His Needle slender, yet both round and full.

Made of the right Iberian mettell strong.

That will not stretch or breake at every pull.

Wrought smooth and cleane withouten crack or knot
And bearded like the wilde Arabian goat.

The following is, I believe, the first mention in
any angling book of the winder and clearing ring : —

A little Boord, the lightest you can finde.
But not so thin that it will breake or bend ;
Of Cypres sweet, or of some other kinde.
That like a Trenchor shall itselfe extend :

48 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

Made smooth and plaine, your Lines thereon to winde,

With Battlements at every other end :

Like to the Bulwarke of some ancient Towne
As well-wald Sylchester now razed downe.

Of Lead likewise, yet must you have a Ring,

Whose whole Diameter in length containes

Three Inches full, and fastned to a string

That must be long and sure, if need constraines !

Through whose round hole you shall your Angle bring,

And let it fall into the watry playne :

Untill he come the weedes and stickes unto,
From whence your hooke it serveth to undo.

In order that the angler may be prepared for all
emergencies, he must —

Have twist likewise, so that it be not white,
Your Rod to mend, or broken top to tye ;
For all white colours doe the Fishes fright
And make them from the bayte away to flye ;
A File to mend your hookes, both small and light,
A good sharpe knife, your Girdle hanging by :
A Pouch with many parts and purses thin.
To carry all your Tools and Trynkets in.

Yet must you have a little Rip beside
Of Willow twigs, the finest you can wish ;
Which shall be made so handsome and so wide
As may containe good store of sundry Fish :
And yet with ease be hanged by your side,
To bring them home the better to your dish.
A little Net that on a Pole shall stand.
The mighty Pike or heavy Carpe to Land.

Then he is instructed as to " His severall Tooles,
and what garment is fitted " : —

And let your garments Russet be or gray.
Of colour darke, and hardest to discry :

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 49

That with the Raine or weather will away,
And least offend the fearefull Fishes eye :
For neither Skarlet not rich cloth of ray
Nor colours dipt in fresh Assyrian dye,

Nor tender silkes, of Purple, Paule, or golde.
Will serve so well to keepe off wet or cold.

The next twelve verses are devoted to propounding
and answering certain objections to the pastime : —

Some youthful Gallant here perhaps will say
This is no pastime for a gentleman.

And the first book concludes with seventeen verses
tracing the development of angling from the time of
the Flood : —

When good Deucalion and his Pirrha deere,

Were onely left upon the earth to dwell

Of all the rest that overwhelmed were

With that great floud, that in their dayes befell.
Wherein the compasse, of the world so round,
Both man and beast with waters deepe were dround.

Until—

At the last the Iron age drew neere,
Of all the rest the hardest and most scant.
Then Lines were made of Silke and subtile hayre
And Rods of lightest Cane and Hazell plant.
And Hookes of hardest Steele invented were.
That neither skill nor workemanship did want,
And so this Art did in the end attaine
Unto that state where now it doth remaine.

The second book describes the various baits for
the different fish, beginning with the gudgeon. The
process of raking the bed of the river, in order to
collect the fish and induce them to bite, is described ;

D

50 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

and it will be noticed that, whereas Walton selects
the chub as the most suitable fish with which to
initiate the young angler, Dennys chooses the
gudgeon.

For the Goodgion.

Loe, in a little Boate where one doth stand,
- That to a Willow Bough the while is tide,
And with a pole doth stirre and raise the sande ;
Where as the gentle streame doth softly slide.
And then with slender Line and Rod in hand.
The eager bit not long he doth abide. . . .

His baite the least red worme that may be found.
And at the bottome it doth alwayes bye. . . .

This Fish the fittest for a learner is
That in this Art delights to take some paine ;
For as high flying Haukes that often misse
The swifter foules, are eased with a traine,
So to a young beginner yeeldeth this,
Such readie sport as makes him prove againe,
And leades him on with hope and glad desire,
To greater skill and cunning to aspire.

For the Roche.

Then see on yonder side, where one doth sit
With Line well twisted, and his Hooke but small ;
His Corke not big, his Plummets round and fit,
His bayt of finest paste, a little ball
Wherewith he doth intice unto the bit.
The careless Roche^ that soone is caught withall :

Within a foote the same doth reach the ground.

And with least touch the float straight sinketh downe.

So for the Roach more baites he hath beside,
As of a sheepe the thicke congealed blood.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 51

Which on a board he useth to divide
In portions small, to make them fit and good,
That better on his hooke they may abide :
And of the waspe the white and tender brood.

And worms that breed on every hearbe and tree,
And sundry flies that quicke and lively be.

For the Dace.

Then looke where as that Poplar gray doth grow,
Hard by the same where one doth closely stand,
And with the winde his Hooke and bayt doth throw
Amid the streame with slender hazell wand.
Where as he sees the Dace themselves doe show,
His eye is quicke, and ready is his hand,

And when the Fish doth rise to catch the bayt
He presently doth strike, and takes her strayt.

O world's deceit ! how are we thrald by thee,

That dost thy gall in sweetest pleasures hide ?

When most we thinke in happiest state to be,

Then doe we soonest into danger slide.

Behold the Fish that even now was free.

Unto the deadly hooke how he is tide,

So vaine delights allure us to the snare.
Wherein unwares we fast intangled are.

For THE Carpe.

His corke is large, made handsome, smooth, and fine,

The leads according, close and fit, thereto,

A good round hooke set on with silken twine,

That will not slip nor easily undoe :

His bait great wormes that long in mosse have bin,

Which by his side he carries in a shooe.

Or paste wherewith he feedes him oft before,
That at the bottom lyes a foote or more.

In regard to fishing with the artificial fly Dennys
gives no information, and the instruction in refer-

52 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

ence to dibbing with the natural fly, in the following
quotation, is his nearest approach thereto : —

For the Chub and Trout.

See where another hides himselfe as slye.

As did Acfeoriy or the fearful! Deere ;

Behinde a withy, and with watchfull eye

Attends the bit within the water cleere,

And on the top thereof doth move his flye,

With skilful hand, as if he living were.

Loe how the Chub^ the Roche^ the Dace and Trout
To catch thereat doe gaze and swimme about.

His Rod, or Cane, made darke for being seene.
The lesse to feare the warie Fish withall :
His Line well twisted is, and wrought so cleane
That being strong, yet doth it shew but small,
His Hooke not great, nor little, but betweene.
That light upon the watry brimme may fall.

The Line in length scant halfe the Rod exceedes.
And neither Cork, nor Leade thereon it needes.

But by the way it shall not be amisse.
To understand that in the waters gray.
Of floating Fish, two sundry kindes there is,
The one that lives by raven and by pray.
And of the weaker sort, now that, now this.
He bites, and spoyles, and kills, and beares away,
And in his greedy gullet doth devoure.
As Scillas gulfe, a ship within his powre.

And these have wider mouths to catch and take
Their flying pray, whom swiftly they pursew.
And rows of teeth like to a saw or rake,
Wherewith the gotten game they bite and chew.
And greater speede within the waters make,
To set upon the other simple crew.

And as the grayhound steales upon the hare.
So doe they use to rush on them unware.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 53

Unequal Fate, that some are borne to be

Fearfull and milde, and for the rest a pray,

And others are ordain'd to live more free,

Without controule or danger anyway :

So do the Foxe the Lambe destroy we see,

The Lyon fierce, the Bever, Roe^ or Gray^

The Hauke, the foule, the greater wrong the lesse,
The lofty proud, the lowly poore oppresse.

For THE Pike or Pearch.

Now for to take these kinde of Fish with all.
It shal be needfuU to have still in store.
Some living baites as Bleiks^ and Roches small,
Goodgion^ or Loach, not taken long before.
Or yealow Frogges that in the waters craule.
But all alive they must be evermore :

For as for baites that dead and dull doe lye,

They least esteeme and set but little by.

The other kinde that are unlike to these
Doe live by corne or any other seede :
Sometimes by crummes of bread, of paste or cheese,
Or grassehoppers that in greene meadows breed,
With brood of waspes, of hornets, doares or bees.
Lip berries from the bryar bush or weede,

Bloud wormes, and snayles, or crauling I entiles small,

And buzzing flies that on the waters fall.

All these are good, and many others more,
To make fit baites to take these kinde of Fish,
So that some faire deepe place you feede before,
A day or two, with paile, with bole, or dish ;
And of these meats do use to throw in store.
Then shall you have them byte as you would wish :

And ready sport to take your pleasure still,

Of any sort that best you like to kill.

Having given the foregoing practical instructions
on ground-baiting, the author tells the angler how to

54 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

deal with a pike, whose presence in the swim may
deter the smaller fish from biting ; most anglers for
roach can probably call to mind many occasions, on
which after most careful and elaborate ground-baiting
their sport has been spoiled by an accident of this
kind : —

Thus serving them as often as you may,
But once a weeke at least it must be done,
If that to bite they make to long delay.
As by your sport may be perceived soone :
Then some great Fish doth feare the rest away,
Whose fellowship and companie they shunne :
Who neither in the bait doth take delight,
Nor yet will suffer them that would to byte.

For this you must a remedie provide.
Some Roche or Bleike^ as I have shew'd before.
Beneath whose upper fin you close shall hide
Of all your Hooke the better halfe and more.
And though the point appeare or may be spide,
It makes no matter any whit therefore :
But let him fall into the watry brimme,
And downe unto the bottome softly swimme.

And when you see your Corke begin to move.
And round about to soare and fetch a ring.
Sometime to sinke, and sometime swimme above.
As doth the Ducke within the watry spring,
Yet make no haste your present hap to prove,
Till with your float at last away hee fling.

Then may you safely strike and hold him short,
And at your will prolong or end your sport.

Bui every Fish loves not each bayte alike.
Although sometime they feede upon the same ;
But some doe one, and some another seeke.
As best unto their appetite doth frame,

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 55

The Roche, the Bream, the Carpe, the Chub, and Bleik,
With paste or Corne their greedy hunger tame,

The Dace, the Ruffe, the Goodgion and the rest,
The smaller sort of crawling wormes love best.

The Chavender and chub doe more delight
To feede on tender Cheese, or Cherries red.
Black snayles, their bellies slit to show their white,
Or Grashoppers that skip in every Meade ;
The Pearch, the Tench, and Eele, doe rather bite
At great red wormes, in Field or Garden bred,

That have been scowr'd in mosse or Fenell rough,
To rid their filth, and make them hard and tough.

The third book deals with " What time is best to
Angle in aright," first, however, proceeding —

To shew what gifts and qualities of minde
Belongs to him that doth this pastime love.

The list is rather a long one, and is calculated to
deter a modest man from attempting to learn a
pastime requiring the possession of so many excellent
qualities. At first the author shows that expensive rods
and tackle do not of themselves make the angler : —

For what avails to Brooke or Lake to goe.
With handsome Rods and Hookes of divers sort,
Well twisted Lines, and many trinkets moe,
To finde the Fish within their watry fort,
If that the minde be not contented so.
But wants great gifts that should the rest support.
And make his pleasure to his thoughts agree,
With these therefore he must endued be.

Then of the necessary qualities of the successful
angler we are told : —

The first is Faith, not wavering and unstable
But such as had the holy Patriarch old.

56 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

The second gift and qualitie is Hope,
The anchor-holde of every hard desire.

The third is Love, and liking to the game.

Then foUoweth Patience.

The next quality suggests dry fly-fishing : —

The fift good guift is low Humilitie,

As when a lyon coucheth for his pray

So must he stoope or kneele upon his knee.

The sixt is painefuU strength and courage good.

Next unto this is Liberalitie.

The eight is knowledge how to finde the way
And make them bite when they are dull and slow.

The ninth is placabilitie of minde.
Contented with a reasonable dish,
Yea though sometimes no sport at all he finde,
Or that the weather prove not to his wish.

The tenth is thankes to that God, of each kinde.
To net and bayt doth send both foule and Fish,
And still reserve inough in secret store.
To please the rich, and to relieve the poore.

Th' eleaventh good guift and hardest to indure,
Is fasting long from all superfluous fare.
Unto the which he must himselfe inure,
By exercise and use of dyet spare.
And with the liquor of the waters pure.
Acquaint himselfe if he cannot forbeare.
And never on his greedy belly thinke,
From rising sunne untill a low he sincke.

The twelth and last of all is memory,
Remembring well before he setteth out,
Each needfull thing that he must occupy,
And not to stand of any want in doubt.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 57

Then the author gives instructions as to the
season and time not to angle : —

First, if the weather be to dry and hot,

Or that it seem'd Apollo had forgot

His light foote steedes to rule with stedfast raine.

He condemns all cold winds and high floods, also
the time when the trees are stript of their leaves in
autumn : —

All windes are hurtfull if too hard they blow,

The worst of all is that out of the East,

Whose nature makes the Fish to biting slow.

And lets the pastime most of all the rest ;

The next that comes from countries clad with Snow,

And Articque pole is not offensive least,

The Southern winde is counted best of all.
Then, that which riseth where the sunne doth fall.

In turn we are instructed as to the best time and
season to angle : —

But if the weather stedfast be and cleare.

Or overcast with clouds, so it be dry.

And that no signe nor token there appeare.

Of threatning storm through all the emptie skie,

But that the ayre is calme and voide of feare.

Of ruffling windes or raging tempests hie,

Or that with milde and gentle gale they blow,
Then it is good unto the brooke to goe.

And when the flouds are fall'n and past away,
And carried have the dregges into the deepe,
And that the waters waxe more thin and gray.
And leave their bankes above them high and steepe,

58 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

The milder streame of colour like to whay,
Within his bounds his wonted course doth keepe,
And that the wind i South or else by-West,
To Angle then is time and seasons best.

After enumerating at some length the haunts of
each kind of fish, the author rightly concludes that
experience is the best guide : —

But here experience doth my skill exceed.

Since divers Countries divers Rivers have ;

And divers Rivers change of waters breed,

And change of waters sundry Fish doth crave,

And sundry Fish in divers places feede,

As best doth like them in the liquid wave,

So that by use and practice may be knowne.
More then by art or skill can well be showne.

He then tells us " The best houres of the day to

Angle":—

From first appearing of the rising Sunne,
Till nine of clocke low under water best
The Fish will bite, and then from nine to noone.
From noone to foure they doe refraine and rest.
From foure againe till Phoebus swift hath runne.
His daily course, and setteth in the West :
But at the flie aloft they use to bite.
All summer long from nine till it be night.

The following verse is added "least the Angler
leave his Tooles behinde " : —

Light Rod to strike, long line to reach withall,
Strong hooke to holde the fish he haps to hit,
Spare Lines and Hookes, what ever chance doe fall,
Baites quicke and dead to bring them to the bit,
Fine Lead and Quils with Corks both great and small,
Knife, File and thred and little Basket fit.

Plummets to sound the depth of clay and sand.
With Pole and Net to bring them safe to land.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 59

And now we are arived at the last,
In wished harbour where we meane to rest ;
And make an end of this our journey past :
Here then in quiet roade I thinke it best
We strike our sailes and stedfast Anchor cast
For now the Sunne low setteth in the West,

And yee Boat-Swaines^ a merry Carroll sing,

To him that safely did us hither bring.

On the reverse of the last page the following
cryptic lines appear: —

Wouldst thou catch Fish ?
Then here's thy wish;
Take this receipt,
To annoynt thy Baite.

Thou that desir'st to fish with Line and Hooke,
Be it in poole, in River, or in Brooke,
To blisse thy baite, and make the Fish to bite :
Loe, here's a meanes, if thou canst hit it right,
Take Gum of life, fine beat, and laid in soake,
In Oyle, well drawn from that which kills the Oake.
Fish where thou wilt, thou shalt have sport thy fill,
When twenty faile, thou shalt be sure to kill.

Probatum.

Ifs perfect and good.

If well understood J

Else not to be tolde

For Silver or Golde. — B. R.

FINIS.

The initials are attributed by Sir John Hawkins to
the Mr R. Roe mentioned by Walton, but in the
Bodleian copy of Dennys' work the initials are un-
questionably as given above and not R. R.

CHAPTER IV

In the same year in which Dennys' poem appeared,
Britannia's Pastorals were written by William
Browne.

The title-page of the first edition of Britannia's
Pastorals is undated, but the introductory verses
to the reader are addressed from the Inner Temple,
i8th June 1613.

These poems contain (p. 105) the following verses
descriptive of angling for pike : —

Now as an Angler melancholy standing
Upon a greene bancke yeelding roome for landing,
A wrigling yealow worme thrust on his hooke,
Now in the midst he throwes, then in a nooke :
Here puis his line, there throwes it in againe,
Mendeth his Corke and Baite, but all in vaine.
He long stands viewing of the curled streame ;
At last a hungry Pike, or well-growne Breame
Snatch at the worme, and hasting fast away
He knowing it, a Fish of stubborne sway
Puis up his rod, but soft : (as hauing skill)
Wherewith the hooke fast holds the Fishes gill.
Then all his line he freely yeeldeth him.
Whilst furiously all up and downe doth swimme
Th' insnared Fish, here on the toppe doth scud.
There underneath the banckes, then in the mud ;

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 61

And with his franticke fits so scares the shole,
That each one takes his hyde^ or starting hole :
By this the Pike cleane wearied, underneath
A willow lyes, and pants (if Fishes breath)
Wherewith the Angler gently puis him to him,
And least his hast might happen to vndoe him,
Layes downe his rod, then takes his line in hand,
And by degrees getting the Fish to land,
Walkes to another Poole : at length is winner
Of such a dish as serues him for his dinner.

In the year following the publication of Denny s'
poem, a prose version appeared anonymously, under
the title of The Pleasures of Princes. Gervase
Markham, the author of this conversion, is one
of the most interesting characters in angling
literature. He was the third son of Robert
Markham, of Gotham, Northamptonshire ; was born
about 1568, and died in 1637. By profession he
was a soldier, and served as captain under the
Earl of Essex in Ireland, but appears to have
turned to literature as a means of gaining a living.
He was a most versatile author. " No subject,
indeed, appears to have been rejected by Markham :
husbandry, housewifery, farriery, horsemanship, and
military tactics, hunting, hawking, fowling, fishing, and
archery, heraldry, poetry, romances, and the drama
all shared his attention and exercised his genius
and industry " (Drake's Shakespeare and his Times).

Markham was a most unscrupulous writer; not
only did he usually omit to mention the sources
from which he compiled his works, but also he was

62 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

in the habit of writing several works on the same
subject under different titles; indeed in order to
protect themselves from this latter device the book-
sellers obtained from him the following agreement,
which is recorded in the Stationers' Registers : —

lAjuly 1617
15 Regis Jacob I .

Memorandum That I Gervase Markham of London
gent. Do promise here after Never to write any more
book or bookes to be printed, of the Deseases or
cures of any Cattle, as Horse, Oxe, Cowe, sheepe,
Swine and Goates etc. In witnes where of I haue
here unto sett my hand the 14th Day of Julie 1617.
Geruis Markham.

In 161 3 The English Husbandman, by Gervase
Markham, was published. It contained no mention
of angling, but was divided into three parts, "a
former part, before the first part : Being an absolute
perfect Introduction into the Rules of true Husbandry,"
the " first Part contayning the manner of plowing and
manuring, etc.," and the second part, " contayning the
art of Planting, grafting, etc.," concluded with a promise
if the work was well received, of another book of
husbandry, "contayning the feeding, breeding, and
diseases of cattle and other arts of Husbandry."

The book appears to have met with a good
reception, for in the following year (1614), The second
booke of the English Husbandman was published,
"contayning the orderings of the Kitchen Garden
... a discourse of the generall art of fishing with

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 63

the Angle, and otherwise ; and of all the hidden
secrets belonging thereunto. Together with the
choyce, ordering, breeding, and dyeting of the fight-
ing cocke. A worke never before printed by any
author."

The angling portion of this book was also printed
separately in 1614, and again later under the titles of
The Pleasures of Princes^ Goodmen's Recreations ^ etc.

This angling portion is practically a prose version
of The Secrets of Anglings by John Dennys, with slight
adornments and enlargements, taken from the Book of
St Albans ^ and Mascall's A Book of Fishing with Hook
and Line ; but no acknowledgment is here made of
the sources of the work. Subsequently, however,
when inserting into the fourth (163 1) and following
editions of his Country Contentments the same treatise
on angling, Markham acknowledged the source of his
information in the following fashion : —

The whole Art of Angling : as it was written in
a small Treatise in Rime, and now for the better
understanding of the Reader, put into Prose, and
adorned and inlarged.

The following extracts from the Pleasures of Princes
comprise almost all the angling information which
is not taken either from Dennys, Mascall, or the
Book of St Albans : —

The Angle Rod of many Pieces.

There be other Anglers, and many of the best and
approvedst judgments ; which allow the Angle rod of

64 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

many pieces ; as those which are made of cane, each
piece exceeding the other one degree, in such even
proportion that being fixed, and thrust one within
another they will show as one even, and most straight
rush-growne body without any crookednesse or other
outward evill favourednesse : these pieces would not
be more than four foot in length a piece, and three
such pieces, which make twelve foot are sufficient for
the stocke of the Rod, besides the top, now for those
ends which are the sockets, into which you fit the
other canes, you shall hoope them about with fine
plates of brasse, an inch and a halfe broad, well
sodered, and smoothly filed, which will keep the
same from cleaving : and for the top of this Rod, the
round whalebone is thought the best, and surely in
my conceipt so it is, both for this and any other Rod
whatsoever, for it is tough, strong, and most plyant :
these Rods are most made to have the small canes
thrust down into the wide canes, so that a man may
walk with them as with a staffe, and when he pleaseth
to draw them forth, and use them as occasion shall
be offered : the only exception which is taken at
these kinds of Rods, is the bright colour of the
cane, which reflecting into the water ofiftimes feareth
the Fish, and makes them afrayd to bite. But if you
fish in deepe, and thicke waters, there is no such
matter, for the shadow of the rod is not discerned
through the Sunne, only in shallow, and cleere
Brookes it is a little hindrance, and therefore he
which is a Master in this Art will Umber, and darken
the Rod, by rubbing it over a gentle fire with a little
Capons grease, and brown of Spaine mixt together.

Markham recommends a line of three hairs for a
gudgeon or minnow; the Book of St A Idans recom-
mends only one hair for the minnow.

The instructions in regard to the clothing of the

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 65

angler are the same as those given in the Secrets of
Anglings but Markham is not satisfied with Dennys'
very exhaustive catalogue of the virtues necessary
for an angler : —

Now for the inward qualities of the mind, albeit
some Writers reduce them under twelve heads, which
indeed whosoever injoyeth cannot chuse but be very
compleat in much perfection, yet I must draw them
into many more branches.

The first, and most especiall whereof, is, that a
skilfull Angler ought to bee a general SchoUer, and
seene in all the liberall Sciences, as a Gramarian, to
know how eyther to Write or discourse of his Art in
true tearmes, either without affection or rudenesse.

Markham also requires the angler to be an
astrologer, a meteorologist, a geographer, an arith-
metician, and a musician.

After describing the seasons for angling and the
haunts of the fish in similar terms to Dennys', he
describes the different baits.

Dennys in his Secrets of Angling neglects the
subject of angling with the artificial fly, only alluding
in his mention of fly-fishing to dibbing with the
natural fly. Markham makes amends for this
omission by giving the following list of flies and
instructions for tying them : —

Lastly for your dead flies, which are most proper
for the Trout, or Grayling, you shall know that the
dun Fly is good in March, being the lesser, but the
greater dun Fly will serve the latter end of February :

£

Q6 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

the stone Fly is good in Aprill, the red Fly and the
yellow Fly in May, and part of June, the wasp Fly,
and the shell Fly in July, and the cloudy darke Fly
in August.

Now for the making of these Flies, the cloudy
darke Fly is made of blacke wooll : dipt from
betweene a sheepes eares, and whipt about with
blacke Silke, his wings of the under mayle of the
Mallard, and his heade made blacke and suitable,
fixed upon a fine piece of corke, and folded so
cunningly about the hooke, that nothing may be
perceived but the point, and beard only. The Shell-
fly is made of fine greene flaxe, and the wings of the
wings of a Pew-glead : the Wasp-fly is made of
blacke wooll lapt about with yellow silke, and the
wings of the downe of the Buzzard ; the Tawny-fly
is made of tawny wooll, and the wings set one
contrary to another, and made of the white downe of
a widgen : the Moorish fly is made of fine flocks,
shorne from a greene gray russett, and the wings
of the blackest may be of a Drake : the bright
Yellow fly is made of yellow wooll, and his wings of
a red cocks yellow maine, the sad yellow fly is made
of blacke wooll with a twisted yellow silke, like a
list, whipt downe on eyther side, and the wings of
the wings of a Buzzard, set on with blacke thred :
the blacke Fly is made of blacke Wooll, and lapt
about with the hearle of the Peacock's tayle, his
wings with the browne feathers of the Mallard, and
some of his blew feathers on his head : the red Fly
is made of red Wooll, lapt about with blacke silke,
and the wings of the male of a Mallard, with
some of the red feathers of a capon, the stone Fly
is made of blacke wooll, made yellow under the
wings, and under the tayle with silke, and the wings
of Drake's downe : and the greater dun Fly is
made of blacke Wooll, and his wings of the dun
feathers of a Drakes tayle, the lesser dun Fly

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 67

is made of dun Wooll, and his wings of the male
of a Partridge.

Now for the shapes, and proportions of these flies,
it is impossible to describe them without paynting,
therefore you shall take of these severall flies alive,
and laying them before you, try how neere your Art
can come unto nature by an equall shape, and
mixture of colours; and when you have made them,
you may keep them in close boxes uncrushed, and
they will serve you many yeeres.

Methods for preparing a variety of pastes for
bottom-fishing are described : —

1. Made from Bean flower, rabbit's fat or cat's fat,
virgin wax, sheep's suet, and honey. These in-
gredients pounded in a mortar will make a paste
which will keep for a year.

2. Fat of a sheep's kidney, new cheese, wheat
flour, and honey.

3. Sheep's blood, honey, fresh cheese, and grated
crumbs of white bread. These ingredients are to be
well kneaded together, and a small pellet of the paste
thrown in when fishing.

4. Bread crumbs and ripe cherries with the stones
removed.

Markham concludes his list of pastes, by giving
the following solution of the cryptic rhyme at the
end of the Secrets of Angling: —

Lastly, if you take Venus Turpentine, some time
washt, and beaten, and mixt it with as much life
Honey, and then dissolve them in Oyle of Polypody,
and so keepe them in a close glasse : then when you

68 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

angle annoynt your baite but with this confection,
and though the water be never so unseasonable, or the
Fish never so ill disposed to bite, yet be sure you
shall not lose your labour, but take, when all men
else faile of their purpose, for the secret hath been
rarely approved, and hitherto hath been maintained
with great secresie.

In the eleventh edition of the Cheap and Good
Husbandry, published 1664, twenty-seven years after
Markham's death, a slightly different description of
this ointment is given : —

Lastly, if you take the oyle of Aspray, and coculus
Indie, and Assafoetida beaten, and mix with as much
life honey, and then dissolve them in the Oyle of
Polypody, and so keepe in a close glass ; then when
you angle annoint your bait with this confection,
though the weather be never so unseasonable, etc.

In describing the methods of angling for the
different kinds of fish, Markham appears to be
ignorant of the habits of the barbel, which he
identifies with the grayling as follows : —

The Barbell, or Grayling which some call the
Umber, are very subtill, and crafty Fishes : therefore
you must be careful that your bayts be sweet, and
new, and when you angle for them doe in all things
as you doe for the Trout, for they bite aloft in the
Summer, and at the bottome in the Winter. Your
lines must be extra ordinarilly strong, and your
hooke of a threepeny compasse, for they are Fishes
of waighty bodies.

Directions, which are apparently taken from

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 69

Mascall's book, are given for " preserving fish from all
sorts of devourers."

The angling portion of the Pleasures of Princes
appears unaltered in several of Markham's
books, which were issued under different titles,
as Cheape and Good Husbandry^ The Way to get
Wealth, etc.

In the Booke of Cheape and Good Husbandry (i6i6)
two chapters on making fish ponds are given, and in
the 1623 edition of the same work a woodcut of "a
Platform for ponds " is added.

Markham appended another work on angling to
The Whole Art of Husbandry by Conrad Heresbach,
which he edited in 1631. " The Whole Art of
Husbandry contained in Foure Bookes. . . . First
written by Conrade Heresbatch, a learned Nobleman,
then translated by Barnaby Googe, Esquire, and now
Renewed, Corrected, enlarged and adorned with all
the experiments and practices of our English
Nation, which were wanting in the Former Editions.
By Captaine Gervase Markham."

The first edition which Markham published in
1614 contained no reference to angling. On com-
paring Markham's edition of Conrad Heresbach's
work with the translation by Barnaby Googe, I find
the whole of the angling portion has been added by
Markham, though no note to that effect is given : in
the original work there is merely a brief treatise on
fish ponds.

Markham's addition on angling, is practically a

70 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

condensation of the Pleasures of Princes. It com-
mences as follows : —

I will not enter here into any large Enconiums,
touching the praise of this art of Angling. It shall
suffice me that all men know it, that few good men
but love it, and a world of pore men live by it ;
neither will I stand upon the use and vertue thereof,
because it is eyther for profit or recreation, nor upon
the Antiquitie, because no man living knew the
beginning ; nor upon anything that is linked unto it
by the Curious.

It is clear that in preparing this book Markham
was pressed either for time or space for the twelve
essential virtues of the angler given by Dennys,
which were not sufficient for him in the Pleasures of
Princes^ he here curtails as follows • —

Touching the man, howsoever some would fixe upon
him twelve vertues, some twenty, & some more, some
lesse, yet I must contract them and say, if he be
TuUies honest man, he is then the Anglers sufficient
man : there is required in him much patience and
constancy, the one will take from him Anguish, the
other error : he must love the sport earnestly, for No
Love, no Lucke; he must have humble Thoughts
and humble Gestures, for he must not disdaine to
kneele, to lye groveling, to stand barehead, nay to
doe any humble action to attaine his purpose : he
must be of strong constitution, for he is like to
undergoe the worst terrors of Tempests.

Dennys tells the angler to buy his hooks, but in
this work Markham is the first writer to recommend
the fisherman to buy also his rods in preference to

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 71

making them ; " indeed these Rods are the most
sufficient for any ordinary Angling whatsoever, and
because there is so great choyse of them to be
bought almost in every Haberdashers Shop, I will
not trouble you with any further relation of them,
but leave them to your best election."

Markham still seems to regard the barbel as a free
riser at the fly : —

As thus you may buy these bare hookes, so you
may also buy all manner of Flyes for every month in
the yeere, and for every Fish that biteth at those
baits, especially the Trout, the Chevin, and the
Barbell. Now if you will be so industrious to make
these things yourselfe, then having provided Wyer,
Silke, wool, Feathers, and the like, lay but the
examples before you and undoe one, and you shall
finde it most easy to make an hundred.

A curious little book, the exact date of publication
of which I have been unable to ascertain, entitled
The Young Sportsman! s Instructor. In Anglings
Fowling^ Hawking, Hunting, Ordering Singing Birds,
Hawks, Poultry, Conies, Hares, and Dogs, A nd how to
Ctire them, by G. M. Sold at the Gold Ring in
Little Brittain, price 6d., has been attributed to
Gervase Markham.

Mr Pearson, in producing a partial reprint of this
work in The Angler's Garland, 1 87 1, gives the date
as about 1 597. But apart from the style of the book,
which is very different from that of the familiar
angling works of that period, it contains the following

72 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

passage, which renders so early an origin an
impossibility : — " Read some of these in a curious
Book lately printed called the Angler's Sure Guide.
Sold at the Ring in Little Brittain." The book here
referred to was the Angler's Sure Guide ^ by R. H.,
printed in 1706 by G. Conyers, at the Ring in Little
Brittain.

The Bibliotheca Piscatoria mentions an edition of
The Sportsman's Instructor in 1652, of a similar size,
and with the same number of pages. I have not been
able to find any other evidence of the existence of
such an edition, and there is no entry of it in the
Registers of Stationers' Hall.

The size of this diminutive work was 2f by \\
inches ; Mr Pearson in his reprint makes it consider-
ably smaller, viz., if by if inch.

From the passage quoted above it would seem that
The Young Sportsman's Instructor was published about
1706 or 1707 (seventy years after Markham's death).
Unfortunately at this period there is a hiatus in the
records of Stationers' Hall, the Licensing Act of
Charles II. having expired and that of Anne not
having been passed until 17 10, so no confirmation on
this point can be obtained from that useful and
reliable source.

The Young Sportsman's Instructor will be dealt with
in a later chapter : here it is sufficient to state that
it differs from Markham's books in containing no
references to the angler's many virtues, upon which
Markham was so fond of dilating, but giving instead

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 73

detailed and practical instructions to the angler in
regard to selecting a swim, plumbing the depth,
preparing the bait, and the method of placing it on
the hook: it also contrasts the different styles of
tackle suitable for a large river like the Thames, with
those suitable for a smaller river such as the " New
River." In fact, it conveys the impression of having
been written by a practical angler, a qualification
which is not betrayed in any of the other works
attributed to Markham.

I have entered thus fully into my reasons for
believing that Markham was not the author of this
book, because its authorship has hitherto been
attributed to him by all the angling bibliographers.
The fact that his initials are affixed to the book, and
that it has been included in some of the posthumous
editions of his works, has probably led to this error.
At the time when it was published there was
evidently a demand for Markham's books, which
appear then to have occupied a position comparable
with that held by Mrs Beeton's various works at the
present day : therefore a reason existed for fathering
upon him the works of later and unknown authors.

During the period when Markham was writing,
William Lawson edited, with notes, an edition of
Dennys' Secrets of Angling, and also wrote a work
entitled A New Orchard and Garden, a book which
was bound up with Markham's Country Contentments,
and sold with it under the collective title of A Way to
get Wealth,

74 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

The notes which Lawson appended to Dennys'
work are decidedly practical in character, and possess
far greater value in this respect than the writings of
his contemporary, Markham.

The Secrets of Anglings augmented with many
approved experiments. By W. Lawson. Printed at
London for Roger Jackson and are to be sold, etc.
The first edition of this work was undated ; the
Bibliotheca Piscatoria gives the date as about 1620,
and it must have been earlier than 1624 when the
publisher died.^

Lawson modestly commences his edition as
follows : —

To THE Reader,

It may seem in me presumption to add
this little comment to the work of so worthy an
author. . . . What to me is doubtfull, I have, as I
ran, explained ; what wants in my judgment, I have
supplied as the time woull suffer : what I passe by,
I approve.

Lawson strongly condemns a top-heavy rod, and
also the use of floats : —

I utterly dislike your southern corks. First they

1 Stationers^ Register^ i6th January 1625. Francis Williams.
Assigned over unto him by Mistris Jackson wife of Roger
Jackson deceased and by a full court holden this day, all her
estate in the copies here-in-after mentioned . . . xiiij. ... 5.
The way to get wealth. New Orchard &* Gardinge^ his method.
The husbandmans practice. Al being the works of Gervis
Markham, whereunto is added Butler on Bees, The Secrets of
Angling, with Maskall's boke of Cattle.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 75

affright the fish, in the bite and sight, and because
they follow not so kindly the nimble rod and hand.
Secondly they breed weight to the line, which puts
it in danger, & hinders the nimble jerk of the rod,
and loades the arm. A good eye and hand may
easily discern the bite.

He was in the habit of making his own hooks.
In regard to the shape he gives the following instruc-
tions : — " The best form for ready striking and sure
holding and strength, is a straight and somewhat
long shanke and strait nib'd, with a little compasse,
not round in any wise for it neither strikes surely
nor readily, but is weak, as having too great a
compasse."

In explanation of Dennys' line about the hook.

His point not over sharp, nor yet too dull,

Lawson says : — " He means the hook may be too
weak at the point, it cannot be too sharpe, if the
mettall be of good Steele."

The best portion of Lawson's addition is his
description of fly-fishing for trout. He supplies the
noticeable deficiency in Dennys' poem in this respect,
as follows : —

The trout makes the angler most gentlemanly,
and readiest sport of all fishes : if you angle with a
made flye, and a line twice your rods length or more
(in a plaine water without wood) of three haires, in
a darke windy day from mid afternoone, and have
learned the cast of the flie, your flie must counterfeit
the May-flie, which is bred of the Cod bait, and is
called the water fly : you must change his colour

76 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

every moneth, begining with a dark white, and so
grow to a yellow, the form cannot be well put on a
paper, as it may be taught by slight : yet it will be
like this forme. [Here Lawson gives a figure.]

The head is of black silk or haire, the wings of the
feathers of a mallart, teele, or pickled hen-wnng.
The body of Crewell according to the moneth for
colour, and run about with a black haire : all fastened
at the taile, with the thred that fastened the hooke.
You must fish in, or hard by the stream and have
a quick hand and a ready eye, and a nimble rod,
strike with him, or you lose him. If the winde be
rough and trouble the crust of the water, he will take
it in the plaine deeps, and then, and there commonly
the greatest will rise. When you have hookt him,
give him leave, keeping your line streight, and hold
him from roots and he will tire himself. This is the
chief pleasure of angling. This flie and two linkes
among wood or close by a bush, moved in the crust
of the water, is deadly in an evening, if you come
close. This is called bushing for trouts.

In reference to the mysterious ointment mentioned
at the end of The Secrets of Anglings he says that
"that which kills the oake, I conjecture to be ivy,
till I change my minde. This excellent receipt
divers anglers can tell where you may buy them."

Lawson concludes his book by giving the angler
several hints, and among them the following : —

Barre netting, and night hooking, where you love
Angling.

He that is more greedy of fish than sport, let him
have three or four angles fitted & baited, and laid
in several pooles, you shall sometime have them
all sped at once.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 77

If you go forth in or immediately after a showre,
and take the water in the first rising, and fish in the
streame at the ground with a red worme, you may
load your sede, if there be a store. Thus may any
botcher kill fish.

I have seen the above method practised with great
success on the Dartmoor streams by the local fisher-
men. They wait till the water is discoloured and
rising, in consequence of recent rains, then these
" botchers " rush off and catch with worms their great
store of fish.

On the subject of rods, Lawson writes : —

I use a rod of two parts, to joyne in the midst
when I come to the river, with two pins, and a little
hempe waxed, thus the pins joyne it, the hempe
fastens it firmely.

A Whale bone made round no bigger than a wheat
straw at the top, yields well, and strikes well.

CHAPTER V

In 165 1 was published The Art of Angling, wherein
are discovered many rare secrets, very necessary to
be known by all that delight in that recreation.
Written by Thomas Barker. An Ancient Practitioner
in the said Art.

Barker, the author of this work, was a writer of an
entirely different stamp from Mascall and Markham.
He was, as he confesses in his preface, no scholar ;
and therefore unable, even if he had wished to do
so, to abstract from foreign sources the material for
his book. In fact he appears to have written with
a view to conveying the information which he had
acquired from a life-long experience of angling. His
remarks on fly-fishing form perhaps the most interest-
ing portion of his work, and these were copied and
acknowledged by the great Izaak Walton.

The high sporting spirit which is so pleasing a
feature in most of the old angling works is unfortu-
nately absent from this work of Barker's ; if Walton
is rightly called the common father of anglers, and
Nobbes the father of trollers, the title of father of

78

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 79

poachers must, I am afraid, be assigned to Thomas
Barker. His motto appears to have been — catch
fish — fairly, if you can — anyhow, catch fish.

In his second edition (1657 and 1659), he was the
first to publish and advocate the use of the salmon
roe ; he appears to have taken more delight in
snaring, snagging, and trimmering pike than in
catching them by angling, because the former
methods were likely to catch more fish. Perhaps
these pot-hunting proclivities were the result of his
professional calling, which was that of a cook.

There are no grounds for the statement in the
Dictionary of National Biography that " at the time
of writing this treatise he gained a livelihood by
accompanying gentlemen on fishing expeditions, or
giving instruction at home in the use of baits and
tackle." He gained his livelihood at that time, as
formerly, in the capacity of cook, and this he tells
us himself in his second edition. " I have been
admitted into the most Ambassadors' Kitchens that
have come into England this forty years, and do
wait on them still at the Lord Protector's charge,
and I am duly paid for it." Also : —

... for forty years and

In Ambassadors Kitchins learn'd my cookery.

All that is known of the life of Barker has been
gathered from the dedicatory epistle of his book,
which is as follows : —

Gentlemen, — I doe present this my Epistle, as

80 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

I have named it, to the Right Honourable, and
Gentlemen • Anglers of the Citie of London, and
else-where within the Realm of England. If the
Reader do finde anything herein delightfull, I shall
heartily rejoyce : For the favour I have found in
them shall never be buried in oblivion by me, and
so I bid the world adieu : For I am grown old ; and
therefore am willing to set forth my true experience
that I have been gathering these fifty years, and
the true grounds of Angling, having spent many
pounds in the gaining thereof, as is well known
where I was born and educated, which is Bracmeal
in the libertie of Salop, being there a Free-man,
and Burgesse of the same Citie. If any Noble or
Gentle Angler, of what degree so ever he be, have
a mind to discourse on any of these experiments;
I live in Henry the sevenths gifts, the next door to
the Gate-house in Westminster, my name is Barker,
where I will be ready to satisfie them. I doe crave
pardon for not writing Scholler like ; but my meaning
shall be true, as I will maintain during life, which is
not like to be long, that the younger frie may have
my experiments at a smaller charge than I had them :
for it would be too heavie for every one that loveth
that pleasure, to be at the charge as I was first in my
youth, the losse of my time, with great expences ;
therefore I thought it fit in my discretion to let it be
understood, and take a little pains to set forth the
true grounds and waies of experience and understand-
ing, both for the fitting of the Rods and Tackles for
the ground Baits and Flies, with directions for the
making thereof, with observations for the times and
seasons for the ground Baits and Flies, both day and
night, with the dressing thereof : for age taketh the
pleasure from me, with many Crosses, as is now
known to many.

Thomas Barker.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 81

Barker does not lay so much stress on the weather
as the writer who preceded him : — " Thus must you
goe to work with your Flies, light for darknesse and
dark for lightnesse with the Winde in the South,
then that blows the Flie in the Trouts mouth.
Though I set down the Wind being in the South,
if the weather be warm, I am indifference where
the Winde standeth either with ground Bait or
Menow, so that I can cast my Bait into the River."
He thus anticipated Walton in expressing indifference
to the direction of the wind, provided that the other
conditions were favourable.

Barker must have been an exceedingly skilful
angler, or else very richly endowed with the fisher-
man's proverbial gift for exaggeration ; there are
very few anglers nowadays who, with the most
modern and improved appliances, could land the
greatest trout that swims on a single hair.

The first thing you must gain, must be a neat
taper Rod, light before, with a tender hazel top
which is very gentle. If you desire to attain my
way of Angling (for 1 have angled these fourty years)
with a single hair of five lengths, one tyed to another
for the bottom of my Line, and a Line of three haired
links for the upper-most part, and so you may kill
the greatest Trout that swims with Sea room.

Hee that Angles with a Line made of three haired
links at the bottom, and more at the top, may kill
Fish : but he that Angles with one hair shall kill five
Trouts to the others one, for the Trout is very quick
sighted ; therefore the best way for night or day, is to
keep out of sight. You must Angle always with the

F

82 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

poynt of your Rod down the stream ; for a Fish hath
not the quicknesse of sight so perfect up the stream,
as opposite against him.

The following very useful directions are given for
scouring and feeding worms : —

When you have gathered your worms out of the
Dunghill, you must gain the greenest Moss you can
finde, then wash the earth very clean out of it, then
provide an earthen pot ; so put your Moss into the
pot ; within two dayes you shall finde your worms so
poor, that if you bait some of them on your hook, you
shall see that with throwing of them two or three times
into the water, they will dye and grow white : now the
skill is when these worms be grown poor ; you must
feed them up to make them fat and lustie, that they
may live on the hook : that is the chiefest point To
make them lustie and fat, you must take the yolk
of an Egg, some eight or ten spoonful of the top of
new milk, beaten well together in a Porringer, warm
it a little, untill you see it curdle ; then take it off the
fire, and set it to cool ; when it is cold, take a spoonfuU
and drop it upon your moss into the pot, every drop
about the bignesse of a green pea, shifting your Moss
twice in the week in the Summer, and once in the
Winter : thus doing, you shall feed your worms fat,
and make them lustie, that they will live a long time
on the hook, so you may keep them all the year
long.

The description given of angling with a minnow
more resembles spinning than trolling; it contains
the first mention of the swivel. The line used is
thicker than that used for bottom-fishing, " two silks
and two hairs twisted for the bottom next your hook,

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 83

with a Swivell nigh the middle of your Line, with an
indifferent large hook."

Having described the method of baiting the hook
with the minnow, he continues: "you must alwayes
be Angling with the poynt of your Rod down the
stream, with drawing the menow up the stream little
by little, nigh the top of the water ; the Trout seeing
the bait, cometh at it most fiercely, so give a little
time before you strike : This is the true way, without
lead, for many times I have had them come at the
lead and forsake the Menow, so he that tryeth shall
prove it in time ; let us goe to Angling with the Flie,
which is a delightfuU sport."

The rod for fly-fishing must be " light and tender."
The upper part of the line may be as thick as the
angler pleases, but

for the lower part, next your Flie, must bee
of three or four haired links. If you can attain
to Angle with one hair, you shall have the more
rises and kill more Fish : be sure you doe not
over-load yourself with the length of your Line :
before you begin to Angle make a tryall, having the
winde in your back, to see at what length you can
cast your Flie, that the Flie light first into the water,
and no longer ; for if any of the Line falleth into the
water before the Flie, it is better unthrown then
thrown : be sure you be casting alwaies down the
stream with the Winde behinde you and the Sun
before ; it is a speciall poynt to have the Sun and
Moon before you ; for the very motion of the rod
drives all the pleasure from you, either by day or
night in all your Anglings, both for Worms and
Flies ; so there must be a great care of that :

84 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

Let us begin to Angle in March with the Flie ; If
the weather prove Windie, or Cloudie, there are
severall kinds of Palmers that are good for that
time.

First, a Black Palmer ribbed with silver; the
second, a black Palmer with an Orenge-taunie body ;
thirdly, a black Palmer with the bodie made all of
black : fourthly, a red Palmer ribbed with gold, and a
red hackle mixed orenge cruel ; these Flies serve all
the year long morning and evening, Windie and
Cloudie. Then if the Aire prove bright and clear,
you must imitate the Hauthorn FHe, which is all
black and very small, the smaller the better. In
May take the may Flie : imitate that, which is made
severall wayes ; some make them with a shammie
body, ribbed with a black hair; another way made with
Sandy- Hogs wooll, ribbed with black silk, and winged
with a Mallards feather, according to the fancie of
the Angler. There is another called the Oak-Flie,
which is made of Orenge colour Cruel and black, with
a brown wing ; imitate that : . . . the smaller the Flies
be made, and of indifferent small hooks, they are the
better ; these sorts I have set down, will serve all the
yeer long, observing the times and seasons : Note,
the lightest of your Flies for cloudie and darknesse,
and the darkest of your Flies for lightnesse, and
the rest for indifferent times ; that a mans own
Judgement, with some experience and discretion
must guide him : If he mean to kill Fish, he must
alter his Flies according to these directions.

Now, of late, I have found that Hogs wooll, of
severall colours, makes good grounds ; and the wooll
of a red Heyfer makes a good body ; and Bears
wooll makes a good ground ; so I now work much of
them, and it procureth very much sport. -

Barker next describes fishing with the natural fly,
to which method of angling he gives the name of

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 85

" doping " : he then proceeds to relate, how his Lord,
one evening, directed him to catch a good dish of
trout before six in the morning, and the means by
which he provided the dish in time. At first, the night
being very dark, he used two lobworms on his hook ;
as the night became a little lighter, he put on a large
white palmer ; on it becoming lighter still, he changed
his fly for a red palmer ; and at last in full daylight he
put on a black palmer.

In fishing for carp. Barker recommends a ground-
bait of brewer's grains, mixed with blood, over night,
and a hook bait of paste or a worm early in the
morning. For perch he recommends a ground of
chopped lobworms at night, and a hook bait of a worm
or a minnow in the morning, giving the preference
to the latter, which he transfixes through the back
with his hook, and allows to swim about buoyed up
by a cork or quill.

Mr Marston, in his very interesting book on
Walton and the Earlier Fishing Writers^ states that
Barker is the first author to " describe the use of the
reel or winch and the gaff in angling for Salm.on or
other fish." This is not the case, for the passage
which Mr Marston quotes from Barker, describing
the use of the winch in salmon-fishing, docs not
appear in the first edition of Barker published 1651,
but in the second edition of 1657 and 1659. Walton's
first edition appeared in 1653, and this contained no
mention of the winch, but in his second edition, 1655,
Walton is the first to mention the use of the winch

86 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

for salmon-fishing {Compleat Angler-, ed. 2, pp. 188
and 189): —

Note also, that many use to fish for a Salmon, with
a ring of wyre on the top of their Rod, through
which the line may run to as great a length as is
needful when he is hook'd. And to that end, some
use a wheele about the middle of their rod, or nearer
their hand, which are to be observed either by seeing
them, or a larger demonstration of words.

To Barker, however, belongs the credit of first
mentioning the use of the winch in angling, and it
appears to have been invented by a namesake of
his. He mentions it in his first edition, in refer-
ence to trolling for pike : —

One of my name was the best Trouler for a Pike
in this Realm, he laid a wager that he would take a
pike of four foot long, of Fish, within the space of
one moneth with his Trouling Rod : So he trouled
three and odd days and took many great Pikes, nigh
the length, but did not reach the full length till
within the space of three dayes of the time, then he
took one and won the wager. The manner of his
Trouling was, with a Hazel Rod of twelve foot long,
with a ring of wyre in the top of his rod, for his Line
to run through ; within two foot of the bottom of the
Rod, there was a hole made for to put in a wind, to
turn with a barrell, to gather up his Line and loose
at his pleasure ; this was his manner of Trouling.

In his accurate description of a trimmer and the
following passages, the unsportsmanlike side of
Barker's character appears : —

But I will pawn my Credit, that I will shew a way,

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 87

either in Maior, Pond, or River, that shall take more
Pikes than any Trouler with his Rod : And thus it
is. First, Take a forked stick ; a Line of twelve yards
wound upon it, at the upper end, leave about a yard
long, either to tye a bunch of sags or a Bladder, to
Buoy up the Fish and to carry it from the ground ;
the Bait must be a live Fish either a Dace, or Godgin,
or Roach, or a small Trout, the forked stick must
have a slit in one side of the fork to put in the Line,
that you may set your live Fish to swim at a gage,
that when the Pike taketh the Bait, he may have
the full libertie of the Line for his feed.

There is a time when Pikes go a Frogging up
Ditches, and in the River to Sun them, as in May,
June and July, there is a speedy way to take them,
and not to misse scarce one in twenty. You must
take a Line of six or eight foot long, arm a large
hook, of the largest size that is made ; arm it to your
Line, lead the shank of your hook very handsome, that
it may be of such weight as you may guide the hook
to your pleasure ; you may strike the Pike you see
with the bare hook where you please ; this Line and
Hook doth far exceed snaring.

The principall sport to take a Pike, is to take a
Goose or Gander or Duck, take one of the Pike Lines I
have shewed you before ; tye the Line under the left
wing, and over the right wing, and about the bodie, as
a man weareth his belt; turn the Goose off; into a
Pond, where Pikes are : there is no doubt of sport,
with great pleasure, betwixt the Goose and the Pike :
It is the greatest of sport and pleasure that a noble
Gentleman in Shropshire doth give his friends
entertainment with.

Barker gives very practical and detailed instruction
in fly-tying : —

Now to show how to make Flies : learn to make

88 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

two Flies, and make all : that is, the Palmer ribbed
with silver or gold, and the May Flie ; these are the
ground of all Flies.

Wee will begin to make the Palmer Flie : You
must arm your Line on the inside of the hook ; take
your Scisers and cut so much of the brown of the
Mallards feather as in your own reason shall make
the wings, then lay the outmost part of the feather
near the hook, and the poynt of the feather towards
the shank of the hook, then whip it three or four time
about the hook with the same silk you armed the
hook ; then make your silk fast ; then you must take
the hackle of the neck of a Cock or Capon, or a
Plovers top, which is the best ; take off the one side
of the feather ; then you must take the hackle silk ; or
cruell, gold, or silver thred ; make all these fast at the
bent of the hook then you must begin with cruell,
and silver, or gold, and work it up to the wings, every
bout shifting your fingers, and making a stop, then
the gold will fall right, then make fast ; then work up
the hackle to the same place, then make the hackle
fast ; then you must take the hook betwixt your
finger and thumb, in the left hand, with a neeld or
pin, part the wings in two ; then with the arming silk,
as 'you have fastened all hitherto, whip about it as it
falleth crosse betwixt the wings, then with your
thumb you must turn the poynt of the feather
towards the bent of the hook : then work three or
for times about the shank ; so fasten ; then view the
proportion.

Having described how to tie the " May flie," the
author gives the reader the following invitation : —

If any worthie or honest Anglor cannot hit of these
my directions, let him come to me, he shall read and
I will work, he shall see all things done according to
my aforesaid directions ;

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 89

The rest of the book is devoted to directions for
cooking the different kinds of fish.

In 1657 the second edition of Barker's book
appeared. It was now entitled Barker's Delight ;
or^ the Art of Anglings and was printed by J. G.
for Richard Harriot ; two years later a second
issue of this edition was printed for Humphrey
Moseley.

In place of the Epistle to the Reader, there is in
this edition a Dedicatory Epistle to the " Right
Honorable Edward Lord Montague, Generall of the
Navy." Following this epistle there are seven sets of
verses in praise of Mr Barker's exquisite Book of the
Art of A ngling.

The portion of the book dealing with the cookery
of the fish is considerably enlarged. A summary in
verse is appended to the sections dealing with the
different fish, the method of angling for trout being
thus summarised : —

The rod light and taper, thy tackle fine,

Thy lead ten inches upon the line ;
Bigger or lesse, according to the stream,

Angle in the dark, when others dream :
Or in a cloudy day with a lively worm.

The Bradlin is best ; but give him a turn
Before thou do land a large wel grown Trout.

And if with a flye thou wilt have a bout,
Overload not with links, that the flye may fall

First on the stream for that's all in all.
The line shorter than the rod, with a naturall flye :

But the chief point of all is the cookery.

90

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

The chief addition to the angling portion deals
with " the way to take a Salmon " : —

I will now shew you the way to take a Salmon.

The first thing you must gain must be a rod of
some ten foot in the stock, that will carry a top of six
foot pretty stiffe and strong, the reason is, because
there must be a little wire ring at the upper end of
the top for the line to run through, that you may
take up and loose the line at your pleasure ; you
must have your winder within two foot of the bottom
to goe on your rod made in this manner, with a
spring, that you may put it on as low as you please.

b

The Salmon swimmeth most commonly in the
midst of the river. In all his travells his desire is to
see the uppermost part of the river, travelling on
his journey in the heat of the day he may take a
bush; if the fisherman espy him, he goeth at him
with a speare, so shortneth his journey.

The angler that goeth to catch him with a line and
hook, must angle for him as nigh the middle of the
water as he can with one of these baits : He must take
two lobworms baited as handsomely as he can, that
the four ends may hang meet of a length, and so angle
as nigh the bottom as he can, feeling your plummet
run on the ground some twelve inches from the hook :
if you angle for him with a flie (which he will rise at

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 91

like a Trout) the flie must be made of a large hook,
which hook must carry six wings, or four at least ;
there is judgement in making those flies. The
Salmon will come at a Gudgeon in the manner of a
trouling, and cometh at it bravely, which is fine
angling for him and good. You must be sure that
you have your line of twenty six yards of length that
you may have your convenient time to turne him, or
else you are in danger to lose him : but if you turn
him you are very like to have the fish with small
tackles : the danger is all in the running out both of
Salmon and Trout, you must forecast to turn the fish
as you do a wild horse, either upon the right or the
left hand, & wind up your line as you finde occasion in
the guiding the fish to the shore, having a good large
landing hook to take him up.

The fish being killed, if it be not boyled well, then
all your labour and pains is lost.

At the time at which I am writing, a correspond-
ence is being carried on in the columns of The
Fishing Gazette, under the heading, " When was
the Dry Fly First Described " ; it might appear
from the following lines that the merits of the floating
fly were not unknown to Barker : —

Once more, my good brother, He speak in thy eare,
Hogs, red Cows, & Bears wooll, to float best appear,
And so doth your fur, if rightly it fall ;
But alwayes remember make two and make all.

I think, however, that Barker here refers to the fly
floating iji the water, and not upon the surface of the
water.

Appended to the book is the following epistle to

92 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

his "Noble Lord," in which for the first time in
angling literature the so-called "Heresy of the
Salmon Roe " is described : —

Noble Lord, — I have found an experience of
late, which you may angle with, and take great
store of this kind of fish : first it is the best bait for
a Trout that I have seen in all my time, and will
take great store, and not faile, if they be there.
Secondly, it is a spcciall bait for Dace, or Dare, good
for Chub, or Bottlin, or Grayling. The bait is a roe
of a Salmon, or Trout, if it be a large Trout, that the
spawnes be any thing great. You must angle for the
Trout with this bait as you angle with the brandlin,
taking a paire of cisers and cut so much as a large
Hasel nut, and bait your hook, so fall to your sport,
there is no doubt of pleasure.

If I had known it but twenty years agoe I would
have gained a hundred pounds onely with that bait.
I am bound in duty to your Honour, and not to carry
it to my grave with me. I do desire that men of
quality should have it that delight in that pleasure :
The greedy Angler will murmur at me, but for that
I care not. For the angling for the scale-fish, they
must angle either with cork or quill, plumming their
ground, and with feeding with the same bait, taking
them asunder that they may spread abroad that the
fish may feed and come to your place, there is no
doubt of pleasure angling with fine Tackles, as single
haire lines at least five or six length long, a small
hook with two or three spawns, the bait will hold one
week. If you keep it on any longer, you must hang
it up to dry a little : when you go for your pleasure
again, put the bait in a little water it will come in
kind again.

Sic vale feliciter

Thomas Barker.

Being a Difcotir fe of

FISH and FISHING,

Mot unworthy chc pcrufal of mod Anghn^

Simon Peter /jii, IgQA fifntng : mi, they fmis Wt
alfo wU gs With tkt, John 2 1 . j.

Lsndoit, Primed by T. Haxf,y for Rich. ftlARaioT ,im

S^Prnfiam Cburcl;#/ard Ficedlrtiif, 1^55,

Title-page of the First Edition of Walton's T/ie Compkat Angler.

[To face 2Mge I

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 93

It is unnecessary to deal at any length with, or to
quote extracts from a work so generally known as
Walton's Conipleat Angler. This book may be
regarded from two points of view, its literary, and
its practical side. It is from its literary merit,
however, that it has gained its great and lasting
popularity. So much is this the case, that among
the most enthusiastic admirers of Walton there are
many who take no interest in the art of angling.
As the writer of Walton's life, in the Dictionary
of National Biography^ says : — " Walton is not read
as an instructor ; he is an Idyllist and as such is
unmatched in English prose."

Moses Browne, who in 1750 edited the first edition
of Walton published after the author's death, fully
appreciated the literary value of the work as distinct
from its practical utility. In his preface (1759
Edition) he says : —

And it is so happy to have this, which is very
singular and uncommon to recommend it, that it has
found the way to render itself exceedingly agreeable
to Readers of all tastes, who have ever perused it.
Not only the Lovers of this Art, but all others, who
have no Inclination in the least to the Diversions of
Angling that it treats of, have joined in giving
it their mutual Suffrage and Commendation ; an
Instance of which I have the Pleasure to remember,
and not improperly in this place to its Honour, that
on a Time when I took the Freedom to present it to
the amiable and deservedly admired Countess of
Hertford late Duchess of Somerset (a name that
wrings a Throb of Anguish from my Heart) with

94 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

an earnest request to peruse it ; she was afterwards
pleas'd to tell me (with a Condescension strangely
engaging) "That I had really deceived her into a
Disappointment she never should have expected from
me ; for that contrary to all she had conceived of it
by the Title, she had never read a more entertaining
Book than the Compleat Angler, nor could I have
made her a more pleasing Present." It was im-
possible for her fine Discernment and Genius not to
have made this Discovery ; and it is no more than a
just and Candid Criticism must allow to the Merit of
this little accomplished Piece.^

One of the most marked features of the style of the
Compleat Angler is the vividness with which the
personality of the author is portrayed ; it is interest-
ing to note how this point has struck different
editors. In 1759 Moses Browne exclaims : — " I think
there are hardly any Writings ever shewed more
the Features and Limbs, the very Spirit and Heart
of an Author;" and Mr Andrew Lang in 1896
writes : —

There are authors whose living voices, if we knew
them in the flesh, we seem to hear in our ears as we
peruse their works. Of such a kind was Mr Benjamin
Jowett, sometime Master of Balliol College, a good
man, now with God. It has ever occurred to me
that friends of Walton must have heard his voice
as they read him, and that it reaches us too, though
faintly.

^ Moses Browne was a country parson with a small living
and a large family of thirteen children ; the Duchess of
Somerset was his former patroness : the sycophancy of his
allusion to her is thus explained.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 95

It was evidently Walton's wish to produce this
effect, for he himself says that the " whole discourse
is a kind of picture of my own disposition": and
that he was successful in reflecting his own disposi-
tion in his book is further evidenced by the verses
addressed to him in commendation of his work by
his brother-in-law, Robert Floud : —

This book is so like you, and you like it,
For harmless mirth, expression, art, and wit.
That I protest ingenuously, 'tis true,
I love this mirth, art, wit, the book, and you.

For a complete life of Walton I must refer my
readers to one of the numerous editions, which have
been, and still are being published of his works : here
it is only necessary to state, that he was born at
Stafford on 9th August 1593, and that he died at
Winchester on 15th December 1683.

The statement made originally by Wood {AthencB
Oxon), that he was a sempster (haberdasher) by
trade, appears by the light of more recent investiga-
tions to be erroneous, for he is now known to have
been apprenticed to an ironmonger in London,
named Thomas Grinsell, to have been made free of
the Ironmongers' Company on 12th November 16 18,
and in his marriage license to have been described as
an ironmonger.

The first edition of the Compleat Angler made its
appearance in May 1653. There appear to have
been two issues of this edition : in the first issue a
misprint occurs in the last verses in the book, the

96 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

word "contention" appearing in place of the word
" contentment " : —

And if contention be a stranger then,
I'll ne'er look for it, but in heaven again.

The facsimile reproduction of the title-page of the
Compleat Angler given in this book is a photograph
of the title-page of the first edition of Walton in the
Bodleian Library, which is one of the first copies
printed, and contains the error mentioned above.

It is needless to say that a first edition of the
Compleat Angler is now a very rare and an extremely
valuable book ; a copy was sold in 1907 for ;£i290.

The second edition was published in 1655, and was
much altered and considerably enlarged. Auceps is
here introduced, and Venator takes the place of
Viator. The first edition terminates : — " Pise : And
the like be upon my honest Scholar. And upon all
that hate contentions, and love quietnesse and vertue,
and Angling. Finis." The second edition ends : —
" Pise : And the like be upon my honest ingenuous
Scholer, and upon all that love Vertue, and to be quiet,
and go a fishing. Study to be quiet, i Thes. 4, 11."

The third edition was published in 1661, and there
was also a second issue of this edition with a fresh
title-page dated 1664; in this edition the " Laws of
Angling " were for the first time included.

The fourth edition, issued in 1668, is merely a
corrected reprint of the second edition.

The fifth edition was published in 1676, and with it

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 97

were incorporated Charles Cotton's Instructions how
to Angle in a Clear Stream^ and Colonel Venables'
Experienced Angler. The fifth edition was the last
issued during the life of Walton ; and the work
appears to have been in danger of being lost sight of,
when Moses Browne in 1750, at the instigation of
Samuel Johnson, "undertook the employment of
introducing a favourite author of the last age, who
seemed exposed to the unkindness of being forgotten
(a fate many excellent writers have suffered) to an
Acquaintance with the Readers of my own time."

There were three editions published by Moses
Browne in 1750, 1759, and 1772.

In 1760 the first of the celebrated editions by Sir
John Hawkins appeared : three other editions were
issued by this editor during his lifetime, in 1766,
1775, and 1784.

Considerably over one hundred editions have now
been published of the Compleat Angler^ ranging in
price from 3d. to ;£"io. Of these editions the most
exhaustive is the one published in 1836 by Sir
Harris Nicolas : and the most sumptuous is the one
edited by Mr R. B. Marston, the editor of the Fishing
Gazette^ and known as " The Lea and Dove" edition.

Mr J. E. Harting has issued an edition of Walton
from the naturalist's point of view. In his preface he
gives the following estimate of Walton's knowledge
of natural history : —

It is not to be denied that many of Walton's state-

G

V

98 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

ments concerning animals and plants, judged by the
present standard of knowledge, are inaccurate.
Derived from ancient authors and translations of the
classics rather than from personal observation, they
were even at the time of printing them in 1653, old,
secondhand, and to some extent erroneous.

However, some of the statements in Mr Harting's
book seem hardly derived from personal observa-
tion, for the following sentence occurs in a footnote
referring to the habits of the chub : —

They are so eager in biting that, when they take
the bait, you may hear their jaws snap like those of a
dog.

Now in Sir John Hawkins' edition (published in
1760) the following passage occurs, referring to the
habits of the chub : —

They are so eager in biting, that, when they take
the bait, you may hear their jaws chop like those of a
dog.

The statement will not, I think, be accepted as
accurate by modern anglers.

In regard to the value of the Compleat Angler as
a practical guide to the art of angling, it must be
acknowledged that it does not deserve all the praise
which has been so liberally bestowed upon it by
many of its editors, who probably have not been
conversant with the earlier writers on the pastime.
For instance, Moses Browne (7th edition) writes : —

He seems an Original and Model to all that have
come after, as Virgil appears among the Writers

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 99

(ever since) of Georgics and Pastoral: An Author^
who has writ latest of Angling says: "This Art seems
to have arrived at its highest Perfection almost at
once, and to have been the same in Mr Walton, as
that of Poetry was in Homer. The Improvements
that are made by the Generality of later Writers, are
indeed so few, and for the most Part so trivial,
rather adding to, and perplexing his Words, like the
Commentators on the Greek Poet, than either clearing
up or enlarging his Sense ; that I could not," says
he, " but wonder at seeing so much done to so little
Purpose." They, at best, do but every one, repre-
sent the Jay in his furtive Plumes ; the reading of
this Volume will detect them, and sink their Value,
by restoring all they have injuriously borrowed, to
their right Owner.

If the Co JHpleat Angler \wQrQ to be considered and
estimated solely on the ground of the originality of
its teaching, I am afraid that Walton would be
stripped of some of his plumes.

The " twelve kinds of artificial made flies " de-
scribed by Walton are clearly taken from Leonard
Mascall's Booke of Fishing. The directions for fly-
fishing are taken from Barker, and the source of the
instructions is acknowledged ; Walton is also in-
debted to Barker for his description of the method
of fishing with the natural fly.

Walton evidently writes with more authority when
he deals with the coarse fish, and with spinning
for trout; his description of the latter method and
the directions he gives for baiting the hook are a
distinct advance on Barker's instructions for spinning.
^ John Williamson in The British Atigler^ 1740.

100 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

We have already seen that Walton is the first
writer to mention the use of the winch in salmon-
fishing. The scanty description, however, which he
gives of angling for salmon suggests the conclusion
that he had little or no practical acquaintance with
this branch of the sport. It is in fact evident that
Walton was essentially a " coarse " fisherman ; some
editors^ deem it incumbent upon them to apologise
for this " failing " on the part of their author :
personally I do not think that any such apology is
needed, for float-fishing is essentially the branch of
angling which best conduces to contemplation, and
hence most fitly fulfils the requirements of "The
Contemplative Man's Recreation."

In his second edition Walton makes the first
mention of the strange method of dipping the bait
into tar, in order to render it more attractive to
tench ; this practice was recommended in nearly all
the treatises which followed the Compleat Angler^
and it is even adopted by some anglers at the
present day. The more practical, however, of the
angling authors who followed Walton usually ex-
pressed their doubts as to the value of the tar in
inducing the fish to bite : for instance, Chetham
recommends this proceeding in a very half-hearted
fashion : —

And as you use your Worms, put them by them-

^ Mr Andrew Lang writes :— " A bait-fisher may be a good
man, as Izaak was, but it is easier for a camel to pass through
the eye of a needle."

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 101

selves in a little Tar a little before used only, and
try whether it advantages your Sport, which many
affirms it do's, but I could never observe any
advantage by it.

Among the many ridiculous theories which Walton
mentions in regard to the propagation of the eel, it is
surprising to find one so accurate as the following ; —

For they say, that they are certain that Eeles
have all parts fit for generation, like other fish, but
so smal as not to be easily discerned, by reason of
their fatness ; but that discerned they may be ; and
that the Hee and the She Eele may be distinguished
by their fins, (ist edition.)

According to Jacobi the dorsal fin is lower and
less developed in the male than in the female eel.

The above extract is the more remarkable when
it is remembered that the male organ of the eel was
not recognised until 1873.

Anglers of to-day should be grateful to Walton

for the elevating influence exercised in popular

opinion on behalf of their pastime by his delightful

and charming book. They owe to him a book, which

even now at this distant period has some value as

a practical work; but they are above all indebted

to him for the high principles of the sport which

he inculcates. Mr Marston^ thinks that "if these

words of Walton had not been ringing down the

centuries ever louder and louder, our fresh-water

fisheries would have long ago been destroyed. These

^ Walton and the earlier^ Fishing Writers^ by R. B.
Marston.

102 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

and many passages in which unfair and unseason-
able fishing is denounced have kept alive the true
sporting instinct among anglers, and enabled them
of late years, when by combination they became
powerful, to obtain from our government laws for
the protection of their interests which as individuals
they asked for in vain." The passage to which Mr
Marston specially refers concludes as follows : —

But above all the taking fish in spawning time,
may be said to be against nature ; it is like taking
the dam from the nest when she hatches her young.

It is a matter for regret that the Mundella Act
for the enforcement of the fence-months for coarse
fish in England is not universal in its application,
and that the large extent of the Norfolk Broads is
exempt from its provisions. It is not so much the
loss of the fish taken during the fence-months which
is to be deplored, as the demoralising effect which
the " taking Fish in spawning time " exercises on the
sporting instincts of those who indulge in such
practices. I have known anglers so lost to all
sense of shame, that they have actually incurred the
expense of setting up the specimen fish, which they
have caught during spawning time, thus affording
a permanent tribute to their lack of sportsmanlike
instinct.

CHAPTER VI

Dr Martin Lluelyn, if one may judge from
his " Song against fishing," which was included in
his book, Men - miracles, with other poemes, printed
in 1646, appears to have shared Mr Andrew Lang's
contempt for coarse fishermen : —

You that fish for Dace and Roches,

Carpes or Tenches, Bonus noches,

Thou wast borne betweene two dishes,

When the Friday signe was Fishes.

Angler's yeares are made and spent.

All in Ember weekes and Lent.

Breake thy Rod about thy Noddle,
Through thy wormes and flies by the Pottle,
Keepe thy Corke to stoppe thy Bottle,
Make straight thy hooke, and be not afeard,

To shave his Beard ;
That in case of started stitches,
Hooke and Line may mend thy Breeches.

He that searches Pooles and Dikes,

Halters Jackes and strangles Pikes,

Let him know, though he thinke he wise is,

'Tis not a sport but an Assizes.

Fish so tooke, were the case disputed,

Are not tooke, but executed.

Breake thy rod, &c.
103

104 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

You whose Pastes fox Rivers throat,
And make I sis pay her Groat,
That from May to parcht October,
Scarce a Minew can sleepe sober.
Be your Fish in Oven thrust,
And your owne Red-Paste the crust.
Breake thy Rod, &c.

Hookes and Lines of larger sizes.
Such as the Tyrant that troules devises,
Fishes nere, beleive his Fable,
What he calls a Line is a Cable.
That's a Knave of endlesse Rancor,
Who for a Hooke doth cast in an Anchor.
Breake thy Rod, &c.

But of all men he is the Cheater,
Who with small fish takes up the Greater,
He makes Carpes without all dudgen
Make a Jonas of a Gudgen.
Cruell man that slayes on Gravell
Fish that Great with Fish doth Travell.
Breake thy Rod, &c.

Though not published until 1694, the Northern
Memoirs, calculated for the Meridian of Scotland. . . .
To which is added, The Contemplative and Practical
Angler \>y way of Diversion, is declared on the title-
page to have been "Writ in the Year 1658, but not
till now made publick. By Richard Franck, Philan-
thropus. Plures necat Gula quam Gladius."

Franck, who was born at Cambridge about the
year 1624, was a Cromwellian trooper and an
Independent. He may certainly claim to have
exemplified in his book, the truth of the motto,
which he selected for his title-page : for he

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 105

administered with his pen, to his political opponent
Isaak Walton, a more severe castigation than he
ever succeeded in inflicting with his sword. And
it is chiefly owing to this vigorous and virulent
attack, that he has obtained his posthumous
notoriety ; although the intrinsic merit of his book
was such, that he was honoured by a reprint in the
year 1821, edited by Sir Walter Scott.

Like the majority of anglers of the present day,
Franck does not believe in going to the trouble of
making his own fishing-tackle, when it could be
bought ready made at the shops. He thus expresses
his views upon this point, and commences his attack
upon Walton, in his preface : —

Thus far I enter the Angler's List, and resolve to
encounter this critical Age by promulgating the Series
of the Art of Angling. But to shape out Rods, twist
Lines, and appropriate Times and Seasons, with
variety of Waters, and Mutability of Baits ; as also
the making of Instruments, arming of Hooks, forming
the accurate Proportion of Flies, shaping of Corks,
staining of Quills, forming of Swivels, and drawing
out Wiers, besides casting of Plumbs, and moulding of
Shot, I resolve against ; for it's nothing my Business,
though a Task neither intricate nor tedious to the
several and various Artificers pregnant in the Art.
For that end you may dedicate your Opinion to what
scribling Putationer you please ; The Compleat
Angler if you will, who tells you of a tedious Fly
Story, extravagantly collected from antiquated
Authors, such as Gesner, Dubravius, &c. but I rather
commend you to famous Isaac Owldham, whose
Experiences sprung from the Academy of Trent.

106 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

Franck's book, which is written in the form of a
dialogue between Arnoldus, the instructor, and
Theophilus, the pupil, contains the following in-
teresting reference to the old statute, which forbade
masters to feed their apprentices upon salmon more
than three times a week : —

Arnoldus. — The Firth runs here that washeth and
melts the Foundations of the City, but relieves the
Country with her plenty of Salmon ; where the Burgo-
masters (as in many other parts of Scotland) are
compell'd to reinforce an ancient Statute, that
commands all Masters and others, not to force or
compel any Servant, or an Apprentice, to feed upon
Salmon more than thrice a Week.

Theophilus. — Is there such a Law in force now ?

Arnoldus. — Yes sure, for ought I know it remains
to this Day : and the Reason of it is, as I conceive,
from the plenty of Salmon in these Northern Parts ;
that should the Inhabitants daily feed upon them, they
would inevitably endanger their Health, if not their
Lives, by Surfeiting ; for the abundance of Salmon
hereabouts in these Parts is hardly to be credited.

In dealing with fly-fishing, Franck returns to his
attack upon Izaak Walton : —

Arnoldus. — For indeed the frequent exercise of
Fly-fishing, though painful, yet it's delightful ; more
especially when managed by the Methods of Art, and
the practical Rules and Mediums of Artists. But the
Ground-bait was of old the general Practice, and
beyond dispute brought considerable Profit ; which
hapned in those Days, when the Curiosity of Fly-
fishing was intricate and unpracticable. However
Isaac Walton (late Author of the Compleat Angler)
has imposed upon the World this monthly Novelty,

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 107

which he understood not himself ; but stuffs his Book
with Morals from Dubravius and others, not giving
us one Precedent of his own practical Experiments,
except otherwise where he prefers the Trencher
before the Troling-rod ; who lays the stress of his
Arguments upon other Mens Observations, where-
with he stuffs the indigested Octavo; so brings
himself under the Angler's Censure, and the common
Calamity of a Plagiary, to be pitied (poor Man) for
his loss of Time, in scribling and transcribing other
Mens Notions. These are the Drones that rob the
Hive, yet flatter the Bees they bring them Honey.

Theophilus. — I remember the Book, but you incul-
cate his Erratas : however it may pass Muster
among common Mudlers.

Arnoldus. — No, I think not; for I remember in
Stafford, I urged his own Argument upon him, that
Pickerel-weed of it self breeds Pickerel. Which
Question was no sooner stated, but he transmits
himself to his Authority, viz. Gesner, Dubravius,
and Androvanus. Which I readily opposed, and
offered my reasons to prove the contrary ; assert-
ing, that Pickerels have been fished out of Pools
and Ponds where that weed (for aught I knew) never
grew since the Nonage of Time, nor Pickerel ever
known to have shed their Spawn there. This I pro-
pounded from a rational Conjecture of the Heron-
shaw, who to commode her self with the Fry of Fish,
because in a great measure part of her Maintenance,
probably might lap some of her Spawn about her
Legs, in regard adhering to the Segs and Bull-rushes,
near the Shallows where the Fish shed their Spawn ;
as my self and others without curiosity have observed.
And this slimy Substance adhering to her Legs, &c.
and she mounting the Air for another Station, in
probability mounts with her. Where note, the next
Pond she happily arrives at, possibly she may leave
the Spawn behind her, which my Compleat Angler

108 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

no sooner deliberated, but drop'd his Argument, and
leaves Gesner to defend it ; so huff'd away : which
rendred him rather a formal Opinionist, than a
reform'd and practical Artist, because to celebrate
such antiquated Records, whereby to maintain such
an improbable Assertion.

Theophilus. — This was to the Point, I confess ; pray
go on.

Arnold7is. — In his Book intituled the Compleat
Ang-ler, you may read there of various and diversified
Colours, as also the Forms and Proportions of Flies.
Where, poor Man, he perplexes himself to rally and
scrape together such a parcel of Fragments, which
he fancies Arguments convincing enough to instruct
the Adult and Minority of Youth, into the slender
Margin of his uncultivated Art, never made practi-
cable by himself I'm convinc'd. Where note the
true Character of an industrious Angler, more
deservedly falls upon Merril and Faulkner ; or rather
upon Isaac Owldham, a Man that fish'd Salmon but
with three Hairs at Hook ; whose Collections and
Experiments were lost with himself.

Apart from this attack upon Walton, the Northern

Memoirs do not call for much notice. In dealing

with the salmon, a good description is given of a

kelt :—

Besides, the Salmon is incident, as other Fish are,
to various Accidents ; more especially if we consider
the female Fish, who in the Spring (as other Females
do) drops her Eggs (but some call it Spawn) which
makes her infirm : and if it so happen that she lags
behind her natural Mate in the fall of the Leaf, she
is then prohibited the benefit of Salt-water to bathe
her Fins, and carry off her slimy Impurities, which is
the natural Cause of her kipperish Infirmity, that
alters her delicate Proportion of Body, and blots out

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 109

the beautiful Vermilian Stain and sanguin Tincture of
Blood, which vividly and transparently shines through
her rubified Gills ; so that now she begins to look
languid and pale, her Fins they sag, and her Scales
by degrees lose their natural shining Brightness ; as
also her regular and well compos'd Fabrick of Body,
looks thin, lean, and discoloured : and her Head that
grows big, and disproportion able, as if distemper'd
and invaded with the Rickets ; over whose Chaps
hangs a callous Substance, not much unlike to a
Falcon's Beak; which plainly denotes her out of
Season, and as plainly as any thing demonstrates her
Kippar.

Franck, although he wrote only one year after
Barker's book was published, makes no mention of
it, and probably had never seen it, but was acquainted
with the use of salmon roe as a bait ; and it is prob-
able that the use of this bait originated in Scotland.
In connection with the chub, salmon roe is thus
mentioned : — " But for salmon spawn if you bring
him that novel, you do your business and his too."

Northern Memoirs contains the first mention of
the spinal cord of the ox as a good bait for chub ;
the use of this lure, which at the present day forms
the most highly prized winter bait for chub, is thus
described : — " But September approaching, you must
bring him Beef Pith, for which he shall sacrifice all
he has, and give you his Carcase in exchange for his
Commons."

The notes on this book by Sir Walter Scott are
not of much interest, with the exception, perhaps,
of the following passage, in which the love of the

no ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

poet for the picturesque leads the editor to condone
that which the modern angler would condemn as the
most arrant poaching : —

The angler is naturally jealous of whatever appears
to interfere with his own favourite pastime. But an
old spearman may be allowed to state, in favour of
the picturesque and manly sport of " burning the
water," that the salmon so killed have been too long
in the fresh water to rise at a fly ; nor can it be
otherwise, as the burning can only be practised when
the river is low and the pools very clear, and, conse-
quently, where there are no newly-run fish for the
amusement of the angler.^

Sir Walter Scott makes no comment here on the
use of the salmon roe. In Letter VI., however, of his
novel, Red Gauntlet^ he mentions this bait and
apparently approves of its use, for he makes Darsie
Latimer say of little Benjie, "that he thought I
would like a fresh trout or twa for breakfast, and the
water being in such rare trim for the saumon raun,
he couldna help taking a cast," and in a footnote thus
explains the passage : — " The bait made of salmon-

^ It appears that Sir Walter Scott had once a narrow escape
from a ducking when engaged in this " manly sport." " Salmon
are likewise taken by what is termed leistering, or burning the
water. The practice consists in attracting the salmon by
means of a candle and lantern, or sometimes of lighted wisps
of straw, and in then endeavouring to strike them with a spear
or leister. This unhallowed practice is noticed in Mr Lock-
hart's Life of Sir Walter Scott^ on one occasion when the great
bard was present. Mr Skeen, who accompanied the party,
relates how Sir Walter fell over the gunwale of the vessel, and
that, had it not been for his assistance, he would have made an
awkward dive of it." — Blaine's Rural Sports.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 111

roe salted and preserved. In a swollen river, and
about the month of October, it is a most deadly
bait."

Regarded as a practical manual on angling, The
Experienced Angler ; or, Angling Improved, by Robert
Venables, published in 1662, was a very great
advance on any of the preceding works on the
subject.

Robert Venables, the author, who was born about
1 61 2, entered the Parliamentary army when the Civil
War broke out. In 1645 he was Governor of Tarvin,
and received a wound at the siege of Chester in
October of that year.

During 1649 he was fighting in Ireland in com-
mand of a foot regiment. He left Ireland in 1654,
and was then appointed by Cromwell to the command
of the forces sent to attack the Spaniards in the West
Indies. This expedition proved a failure, chiefly on
account of the lack of co-operation between Venables
and Penn, who was the Admiral in command of the
Fleet, and both these commanders were imprisoned
in the Tower on their return to England. After a
little more than a month's imprisonment, Venables
was released on surrendering his general's commis-
sion. He subsequently assisted in the restoration of
the Monarchy, and in 1660 was appointed Governor
of Chester. He died in July 1687.^

At the close of his chequered career, Venables

1 DicL Nat Biog.

112 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

seems to have found in angling : " A rest to his
mind, a cheerer of his spirits, a divertion of sadness,
a calmer of unquiet thoughts, a moderator of passions,
a procurer of contentedness."

The facsimile reproduction of the frontispiece by
Vaughan, which faces this page, is a photograph from
a copy of the first edition of Venables' book in the
Bodleian Library. It gives a very good idea of the
tackle of the period. The knob at the butt of the
rod on the extreme left of the plate closely resembles
the rubber button which has recently been added to
spinning rods, an addition which tackle-makers now-
adays claim as quite a recent invention. The osier
pannier is practically unaltered at the present time.
The figure of a winch at the top of the plate is a
great improvement on the unintelligible diagram
with which Barker's book is illustrated.

In his preface Venables thus quaintly describes the
advantages of angling : —

Further, these delights [hunting and hawking] are
often prejudicial to the Husbandman in his corn, grass
and fences ; but in this pleasant and harmless Art of
Angling a man hath none to quarrel with but himself,
and we are usually so entirely our own friends, as
not to retain an irreconcileable hatred against our
selves, but can in short time easily compose the
enmity ; and besides our selves none are offended,
none endamaged ; and this Recreation falleth within
the capacity of the lowest fortune to compass, afford-
ing also profit as well as pleasure.

Following the preface there is a letter from

Title-page of Venables' Experienc'd Angler,

[To face page 112.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 113

the great master himself in commendation of the
work : —

To his ingenious Friend the Author on his Angling
Improv'd.

Honoured Sir, — Though I never (to my knowledge)
had the happiness to see your face, yet accidentally
coming to a view of this Discourse before it went to
the Press ; I held my self obliged in point of gratitude
for the great advantage I received thereby, to tender
you my particular acknowledgment, especially having
been for thirty years past, not onely a lover but a
practicer of that innocent Recreation, wherein by your
judicious precepts I find my self fitted for a higher
Form ; which expression I take the boldness to use,
because I have read and practised by many Books
of this kind, formerly made publick ; from which
(although I received much advantage in the practick)
yet (without prejudice to their worthy Authors) I could
never find in them that height of judgment and
reason, which you have manifested in this (as I may
call it) Epitome of Angling, since my reading whereof
I cannot look upon some notes of my own gathering,
but methinks I do puerilia tractare. But lest I should
be thought to go about to magnifie my own judgment,
in giving yours so small a portion of its due, I humbly
take leave with no more ambition than to kiss your
hand and to be accounted, — Your humble and thank-
ful Servant, I. W.

The Experienced Angler is systematically arranged
in four chapters, the first dealing with " When
to provide Tools and how to make them " ; the
second with " Divers sorts of Angling : first, of the
Flie " ; the third treating " Of the Artificial Flie," and
the fourth " Of Angling at the ground."

H

114 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

In the first chapter Venables chooses the cane in
preference to the hazel rod, on account of the length,
lightness, and casting power of the former. The
remainder of this chapter contains nothing original.

In the second chapter the author takes "leave to
dissent from the opinion of such who assign a certain
fly to each Moneth, whereas I am certain scarce any
one sort of flye doth continue its colour and virtue one
Moneth ; and generally all flies last a much shorter
time, except the stone fly (which some call the May
fly) which is bred of the water-cricket, which creepeth
out of the River, and gets under the stones by the
water side, and there turneth to a fly, and lyeth under
the stones ; the May fly and the reddish flye with ashie
gray wings."

Like most pike anglers, Venables would not agree
with the late Sir Courtenay Boyle, who said that " A
fly is one of the best baits for pike that you can
possibly have, whether in a lake, river, or brook."
This appears from his list : —

What fish rise best at the fly, both natural and
artificial. In general, all sorts of flies are very good
in their season, for such fish as will rise at the flie, as
Salmon, Trout, Umber, Grayling, Bleak, Chevin,
Roch, Dace, &c. Though some of these fish do
love some flies better than other; except the fish
named I know not any sort or kind that will
(ordinarily and freely) rise at the flie, though I know
some do angle for Bream and Pike with artificial flies,
but I judge the labour lost, and the knowledge a needless
curiosity, those fish being taken much easier (especially
the Pike) by other wayes : All the forementioned

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 115

sorts of fish will sometimes take the flie, much better
at the top of the water, and at another time much
better a little under the superficies of the water, and in
this your observation must be your constant and daily
instructor (for if they will not rise to the top, try them
under) it not being possible (in my opinion) to give
any certain rule in this particular.

The following are plainly the observations of a
practical fisherman : —

You may also observe (which my own experience
taught me) that the fish never rise eagerly and freely
at any sort of flie, untill that kind come to the waters
side. . . . Sometimes they change their flie (but its
not very usual) twice or thrice in one day ; but
ordinarily they seek not for another sort of flie, till
they have for some dayes even glutted themselves
with a former kind, which is commonly when those
flies die and go out. Directly contrary to our London
Gallants, v/ho must have the first of every thing, when
hardly to be got, but scorn the same v/hen kindly
ripe, healthful, common and cheap.

The following extracts are from the chapter "Of
the Artificial Flie " :—

But here I must premise, that it is much better to
learn how to make a flie by sight than by any Paper-
direction can possibly be expressed, in regards the
Terms of Art do in most parts of England differ, and
also several sorts of flies are called by different
names ; some call the flie bred of the water Cricket
or Creeper a May-flie, and some a Stone-flie ; some
call the Cadbait flie a May, and some call a short fly
of a sad golden green color, with short brown wings, a
May-flie : and I see no reason but all flies bred in May,
are properly enough called May-flies. Therefore

116 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

except some one (that hath skill) would paint them,
I can neither well give their names nor describe
them, without too much trouble and prolixity. . . .

When you angle with the artificial flie, you must
either fish in a River not fully cleared from some rain
lately fallen, that had discoloured it ; or in a Moorish
River, discoloured by moss or bogs ; or else in a dark
cloudy day, when a gentle gale of wind moves the water.

In the chapter "Of Angling at the ground," a
form of tackle is described resembling that which is
now known as a " Paternoster " : —

When you angle at ground for small fish, put two
hooks to your line fastned together thus ; Lay the
two hooks together, then draw the one shorter than
the other by nine inches, this causeth the other end
to over-reach as much as that is shorter at the hooks,
then turn that end back to make a bought or boute,
and with a Water-knot (in which you must make both
the links to fasten) tye them so as both links may
hang close together, and not come out at both ends
of the knot ; upon that link which hangeth longest,
fasten your Lead near a foot above the hook, put
upon your hooks two different baits, and so you
may try (with more ease and less time) what bait the
fish love best : and also very often (as I have done)
take two fish at once with one Rod : You have also by
this experiment, one bait for such as feed close upon
the ground, as Gudgeon, Flounder, &c. and another for
such as feed a little higher, as Roch, Dace, &c.

The method of examining the contents of the
stomach of the first fish taken is given in greater
detail than in the Treatyse of ffysshyng with an
Angle: —

The first fish'you take cut up his belly, and you may

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 117

then see his stomach ; it is known by its largeness
and place, lying from the Gills to the small guts;
take it out very tenderly, (if you bruise it your labour
and design are lost) and with a sharp Knife cut it
open without bruising, and then you may find his food
in it, and thereby discover what bait the fish at that
instant takes best, flies or ground-baits, and so fit
them accordingly.

Venables thus discourses on the up or down stream
controversy : —

And here I meet with two different opinions and
practises, some alwayes cast their flie and bait up the
water, and so they say nothing occurreth to the fishes
sight but the line ; others fish down the River and so
suppose (the rod and line being long) the quantity of
water takes away, or at least lesseneth the fishes
sight ; but the other affirm, that rod and line, and
perhaps your self are seen also.

Double hooks for salmon are generally supposed
to be a new invention, and John Bickerdyke in his
excellent and practical manual, Angling for Game
Fish (1889), asserts that "Double hooks are also a
comparative novelty, and much abused by old-
fashioned anglers." That such is not the case is
clearly shown by the subjoined extract from the
fourth edition of the Experienced Angler (1676): —

Young Salmons under a quarter of a yard long,
have tender mouths, so as they are apt to break their
hold : to obviate which inconvenience, I have known
some that use to fasten two hooks together, in like
manner as some double Pike hooks lately used in
Trowling are made, not with the points opposite

118 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

to one another, but about a quarter of a Circle
from each other, and on them they make their
Flie, that if one Hook break hold, the other may not
fail.

Following closely upon the Experienced Angler
appeared " The Gentleman' s Recreation : in Four Parts,
viz. : Hunting, Hawking, Fowling, Fishing, Collected
from Antient and Modern Authors Forrein and
Domestick, &c. 1674." To the second edition of
this work, published in 1677, a folding plate is added,
in which are very roughly delineated fourteen kinds
of fish.

Judging from the introduction, the author of this
work, Nicholas Cox, appears to have been of a some-
what credulous disposition ; among other impossible
stories he relates the following : —

In the year of our Lord 11 80, near Orford in
Suffolk, there was a fish taken in the perfect shape
of a man ; he was kept by Bartholomew de Glanville
in the Castle of Orford above half a year; but at
length not being carefully looked to, he stole to the
sea and was never seen after. He never spake, but
would eat any meat that was given him, especially
raw fish, when he had squeezed out the juice : He
was had to church, but never shewed any signe of
Adoration.

The angling instructions appear to have been
taken chiefly from Venables' Experienced Angler ;
the description of the shape of the hook and the
instructions for plumbing the depth of the water are
taken practically verbatim from this source.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 119

An ingenious method of ground-baiting with
worms is described : —

If you will bait a stream, get some tin boxes made
full of holes, no bigger than just fit for a worm to
creep through ; then fill these boxes with them, and
having fastened a plummet to sink them, cast them
into the stream with a string tied there to, that you
may draw them forth when you list. By the
smallness of the holes aforesaid, the worms can
crawl out but very leisurely, and as they crawl the
fish will resort about them.

This is the first angling work to mention the use
of a catgut line : — " Also a line made of the smallest
Lute string is very good, but that it will soon rot
by the water." Pepys, however, in his Diary
anticipated this; for on i8th March 1667, he made
the following entry : — " This day Mr Caesar told me
a pretty experiment of his, angling with a minikin,
a gut-string varnished over, which keeps it from
swelling, and is beyond any hair for strength and
smallness. The secret I like mightily."

Cox is, I believe, the first angling writer to mention
the Torgoch or Welsh charr {Salmo perisii) : —

Of the Torcoth. The Torcoth is a fish having a
red belly but of what continuation I know not ; for
that let the Welshmen speak, who best know him :
for I have heard he is only to be found in the pool
Lin-peris in Carnarvonshire : I only name him that
you may know that there is such a fish.

The author concludes his book as follows : —

I shall conclude this Treatise with the experi-

120 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

mental observations of an ingenious Gentleman, who
hath practised the Art of Fishing many years, and
therefore the more fit to give Directions for the right
use of the Angle.

The directions which follow are entitled " Experi-
mental Observations and useful Directions for the
right use of the Angle ; and is a true and brief
Epitome of the whole Art and Mystery of the
Fishing Recreation." These directions were taken
almost verbatim from Barker's Delight.

The book concludes with the following angling
song : —

Come lay by all cares, and hang up all sorrow,
Lets Angle to day, and ne're think of to morrow ;
And by the Brook-side as we Angle along,
We'll cheer up our selves with our sport and a Song.

Sometimes on the Grass our selves we will lay,
And see how the watery Citizens play ;
Sometimes with a Fly stand under a Tree,
And choose out what Fish our Captives shall be :

Thus void of all care we're more happy than they
That sit upon Thrones and Kingdoms do sway ;
For Scepters and Crowns disquiet still bring.
But the Man that's content is more blest than a King.

In 1676 the second part of the Compleat Angler^
being Instructions how to angle for a trout or grayling
in a clear stream^ by Charles Cotton, was published ;
and was sold, either separately, or in conjunction
with the parts by Venables and Walton, under the
title of the Universal Angler.

The incorporation of this book with Walton's

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 121

Compleat Angler has rendered it so well known, as
to here need very little notice.

The love of angling appears to have united Walton
and Cotton in a firm bond of friendship, for, apart
from their love of this sport and their Royalist
sympathies, they could have had but little in
common ; the one a retired tradesman, possessed of
a considerable property, the other, a dun-pursued
gallant, who had squandered what little property he
had inherited from a spendthrift father ; the one, " A
man well known, and as well beloved of all good
men," and the biographer of those pious men, Dr
Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Mr Richard Hooker, and
Mr George Herbert ; the other, a writer, who chose
" for the exercise of his poetical talent — a burlesque
of an epic poem — a version of the most licentious of
Lucian's dialogues — and a ludicrous delineation of
some of the most stupendous works of nature — in all
which we meet with such foul imagery, such obscene
allusions, such offensive descriptions, such odious
comparisons, such coarse sentiment, and such filthy
expression, as could only proceed from a polluted
imagination, and tend to excite loathing and
contempt."

The addition of Cotton's portion to Walton's work
justifies the title of the Compleat Angler, by supplying
that instruction in fly-fishing, of which Walton's
portion was so noticeably deficient.

Regarded in a strictly practical light, the Instruc-
tions how to angle for a trout or grayling in a clear

122 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

stream must be considered an epoch-marking work in
the development of fly-fishing. In this book we seem
suddenly to spring from the coarse methods of its
predecessors, and to approach to those scientific
methods of fine fishing, by which alone fly-fishing
can be successfully practised at the present day.
Compare, for instance, the following description of
" the bright dun gnat " with any previous description
of an artificial fly : — " There is also a very little bright
Dun Gnat, as little as can possibly be made, so little
as never to be fisht with, with above one hair next
the hook."

In another place Cotton writes, "In case of a
frost and snow, you are to Angle only with the
smallest Gnats, Browns and Duns you can make."
Cotton is at his best when he deals with the May fly ;
he says : —

Of these, the Green-Drake comes in about the
twentieth of this Month, or betwixt that, and the
latter end (for they are sometimes sooner, and some-
times later, according to the quality of the Year) but
never well taken till towards the end of this Month
and the beginning of June. , . .

Of these the Green- Drake never discloses from his
husk, till he be first there grown to full maturity,
body, wings and all, and then he creeps out of his
cell, but with his wings so crimpt and ruffled, by
being prest together in that narrow room, that they
are for some hours totally useless to him, by which
means he is compelled either to creep upon the flags,
sedges, and blades of grass (if his first rising from the
bottom of the water be near the banks of the River)
till the Air, and Sun, stiffen and smooth them ; or if his

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 123

first appearance above water happen to be in the
middle, he then lies upon the surface of the water
like a Ship at Hull (for his feet are totally useless to
him there, and he cannot creep upon the water as the
Stone-Flie can) untill his wings have got stiffness to fly
with, if by some Trout, or Grayling he be not taken in
the interim (which is ten to one he is) and then his
wings stand high, and clos'd exact upon his back,
like the Butterfly, and his motion in flying is the
same. His body is in some of a paler, in others of a
darker yellow (for they are not all exactly of a colour)
rib'd with rows of green, long, slender, and growing
sharp towards the tail, at the end of which he has
three long small whisks of a very dark colour, almost
black, and his tail turns up towards his back like a
Mallard, from whence questionless he has his name
of the green- Drake. . . .

I should now come next to the Stone-Flie, but there
is another Gentleman in my way : that must of
necessity come in between, and that is the Grey-Drake,
which in all shapes, and dimensions is perfectly the
same with the other, but quite almost of another
colour, being of a paler, and more livid yellow, and
green, and ribb'd with black quite down his body,
with black shining wings, and so diaphanous and
tender, cob-weblike, that they are of no manner of
use for Daping ; but come in, and are taken after the
Green-Drake, and in an Artificial Flie kill very well.

Apart from his instructions in fly-fishing. Cotton
would be worthy of a high place among the teachers
of angling, for his description of that skilful form of
fishing known as "up-stream worming," or "swim-
ming the worm " : —

The third way of Angling by hand with a
Ground-bait, and by much the best of all other, is,

124 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

with a Line full as long, or a yard and a half longer
than your Rod, with no more than one hair next the
hook, and for two or three lengths above it, and no
more than one small pellet of shot for your plum, your
Hook little, your worms of the smaller Brandlings,
very well scour'd, and only one upon your hook at
a time, which is thus to be baited : The point of your
hook is to be put in at the very tagg of his tail, and
run up his body quite over all the arming, and still
stript on an inch at least upon the hair ; the head and
remaining part hanging downward ; and with this line
and hook thus baited you are evermore to angle in
the streams, always in a clear, rather than a troubled
water, and always up the River, still casting out your
worm before you with a light one-handed Rod, like an
artificial Flie, where it will be taken, sometimes at the
top, or within a very little of the Superficies of the
water, and almost always before that light plumb can
sink it to the bottom, both by reason of the stream,
and also that you must always keep your worm in
motion by drawing still back towards you, as if you
were angling with a flie ; and believe me, whoever
will try it, shall find this the best way of all other to
angle with a worm, in a bright water especially ; but
then his rod must be very light and pliant, and very
true and finely made, which with a skilful hand, will
do wonders, and in a clear stream is undoubtedly the
best way of angling for a Trout, or Grayling with a
worm, by many degrees, that any man can make
choice of, and of most ease and delight to the Angler.
To which let me add, that if the Angler be of a con-
stitution that will suffer him to wade, and will slip
into the tail of a shallow stream, to the Calf of the leg
or the knee, and so keep off the bank, he shall almost
take what fish he pleases.

CHAPTER VII

The Angler's Delight , by William Gilbert, Gent.,
was published in 1676, The author of this work
certainly cannot be said to have fulfilled the claim,
which he makes in his preface, to "have here laid
open the whole Art and Mystery of Clean, Neat,
and Gentile Angling, in a far more Plain, and Easie
Way, than ever was yet in Print ; All from Experi-
ence, and not Borrowed from other Books, and many
things never before heard of, by most People," for
in the first part of the book, dealing with angling
in general, he entirely shirks giving practical instruc-
tions, except where he extracts, almost verbatim,
from Walton, the method of spinning for trout.
In the second part, in which he deals with the
method of fishing in the Hackney River, he seems
to be more solicitous for the refreshment of the
angler than anxious to instruct him in "Gentile
Angling."

The author commences with the pike, because he
is "the King and Commander of all Fresh-Water
Fish." He gives full directions how to catch this

125

126 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

fish with bank-runners and trimmers, but dismisses
the more legitimate methods of pike-fishing, in
these words : —

Many use to Troule for a Pike ; but that is so
easie, that I shall not spend time in giving Directions :
For it will be far easier learnt ; by once going with
any Person that understands it, in ones day time,
than is possible to be taught by Printed Directions.
So much for the Taking of him. Now for the dressing
of him.

After a very brief description of fishing for perch
with a live minnow, Gilbert remarks : " And this is
sufficient for Mr Pearch ; For, every Boy can Catch
him, he is so Bold."

The second part of the book, which deals with
" The Method of Fishing in Hackney River," is of
a more practical character than the first part. Here
the necessary tackle is fully described, and an
illustration is given of five different sizes of hooks,
suitable respectively for bleak or gudgeon, roach or
dace, roach, chub and perch, or barbel.

When you have provided all the tackle that " you
can possibly use ; then go to Mother Giberts, at the
Flower-de-Luce at Clapton, near Hackney, and while
you are drinking of a Pot of Ale, bid the maid make
you two or three Penny-worth of Ground-Bait, and
some Paste (which they do very neatly, and well) ;
and observing of them, you will know how to make
it yourself for any other place ; which is too tedious
here to insert."

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 127

The following is, I believe, the first description of
the method of using leger tackle : —

If you fail in your expectations of Chub-Fishing,
then be upon the Drable for a Barbel, which is in
this nature : You must have a strong Line, of about
six yards long of Hair and Silk ; which must be put
(before you fasten it to your rod) through a piece of
Lead . . . , that it may slip to and fro, if any thing
bite at it.

It is evident that Gilbert did not follow Dennys'
advice : —

And never on his greedy belly thinke,
From rising sunne vntill a low he sincke,

for he concludes his book with the following
suggestion : — " And if you have a boy to go along
with you, a good Neats-Tongue, and a bottle of
Canary should not be wanting : To the enjoyment
of which I leave You."

The Angler's Vade-Mecuin, by James Chetham,
was published in 1681 ; a second edition, consider-
ably enlarged, was published in 1689, and a third
edition, or rather a reprint of the second, appeared
in 1700.

James Chetham lived at Smedley, near Manchester.
He was born on 29th December 1640; he matricu-
lated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, on nth April
1660, but did not proceed to a degree ; and died
in 1692.

The Angler's Vade-Mecum bears throughout the

128 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

impression of having been written by a thoroughly
practical angler. The author, to a considerable
extent, has availed himself of the writings of his
predecessors, a fact which he honestly acknowledges
in his preface, where he says he is "not a little
beholden to the Labours and Industry of Markham,
Walton, Venables, and Cotton, and others." On the
whole, however, it is an original and a very useful
treatise, and it served for many years, not only as a
model, but also as a fruitful source of information, to
other angling writers.

Amongst the most remarkable features of this
book are the weird ointments with which the angler
is directed to annoint his line : —

Ointments to Allure Fish to the Bait.

Next follow Ointments and Receipts, which I have
read and been informed of, by several knowing
Anglers, and are practised for the better furtherance
of this Sport; and some have such confidence, that
they affirm they'll not only allure, but even compel
Fish to bite. . . . And the first shall be one highly
commended by Monsieur Charras, (Operator and
Apothecary Royal to the present French King, Lewis
the Fourteenth) in his Pharmacopoeia^ printed at
London, Part the Second.

Take Man's Fat and Cat's Fat, of each half
an Ounce, Mummy finely powdred three Drams,
Cummin-seed finely powdred one Dram, distill'd Oyl
of Annise and Spike, of each six Drops, Civet two
Grains, and Camphor four Grains, make an Ointment
according to Art; and when you Angle anoint 8
inches of the Line next the Hook therewith, and
keep it in a pewter box. ...

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 129

Here is another pleasing allurement : —

Take the Bones or Scull of a dead Man, at the
opening of a Grave, and beat the same into powder,
and put of this powder into the Moss wherein you
keep your worms, but others like Grave-earth as well.

The following prescription for the Unguentum
Piscatorum Mirabile^ which, "if in the hand of an
Artist, prodigiously causes Fish to bite," is contained
in the second and third editions only : —

R/ Of Man's Fat, Cat's Fat, Heron's Fat, and of
the best Assafoetida, of each two Drams, Mummy
finely powdered two Drams, Cummin Seed finely
powdered two Scruples, and of Camphor, Galbanum,
and Venice Turpentine, of each one Dram, Civet
grains two ; make according to Art, &c.

The man's fat is to be obtained from the dissecting-
rooms, and most of the other ingredients from the
apothecaries' shops.

The instructions which Chetham gives for fishing
with paste differ very little from those given in the
angling manuals of the present time for roach
fishing : — " When you Angle with Paste, have a
small Hook, quick Eye, a nimble Hand and Rod ;
and that somewhat stiff too, or both bait and Fish
are lost ; and, you must strike at the very first time
you perceive them bite."

Chetham recommends the use of a "good Micro-
scope, or magnifying Glass," to examine the contents
of the stomach of the first fish caught, so that : —
" You may (with some Pleasure and Delight to you)

I

130 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

easily discover the very true colour, proportion and
shape of the Fly ; and some do it pretty well without
a glass."

The practice which some fishermen adopt, of
affixing a gentle to the hook of their fly, is
mentioned in The Angler^ s Vade-Mecum: —

If you put a Cod-bait or Gentle, either natural or
artificial, but Natural better, at point of your
Dub-fly Hook, they will take the Dub fly better,
especially the Salmon Smelt.

The Angle fs Vade-Meciim is the first book to
suggest the whipping of a bristle to the hook, to
prevent the cod-bait slipping down ; a similar practice
is frequently made use of at the present time in
worm-fishing, to prevent the worm from slipping
down the hook.

The angler is usually recommended to cast above
a rising trout, and then to let the fly float down to
the fish. Chetham, however, writes : —

When you see a Trout rise, cast the Fly behind
him, and then gently draw it over his Head, and if
of the right colour, and you scare him not, he's
your own.

Though Chetham approves of snaring pike (he
appears to have indulged frequently in this amusement
during his undergraduate days at Oxford), and of
setting night lines, he draws the line of fair angling
at night fishing for trout : —

In the Night usually the best Trouts bite, and will

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 131

rise ordinarily in the still deeps ; but not so well in
the Streams. And although the best and largest
Trouts bite in the Night (being afraid to stir, or
range about in the Daytime ; ) yet I account this
way of Angling both unwholsom, unpleasant and
very ungentiel, and to be used by none but Idle
pouching Fellows. Therefore I shall say nothing
of it, only describe how to lay Night Hooks ; which,
if you live close by a River side, or have a large Moat,
or Pond at your own House, will not be unpleasant,
sometimes to practice. But as for Damming, Grop-
ing, Spearing, Hanging, Twitcheling, Netting, or
Firing by Night, I purposely omit them, and them
esteem to be used only by disorderly and rascally
Fellows, for whom this little Treatise is not in the
least intended.

To The Compleat Troller ; or, The Art of Trolling,
by a Lover of the Sport, 1682, belongs the distinction
of being the first monograph written in connection
with the .sport of trolling ; and a most excellent and
exhaustive monograph it is. The subject, in fact, is
so fully dealt with, that The Compleat Troller forms
the groundwork of all subsequent books on the pike,
and the author, Robert Nobbes, certainly deserves
the title of " Father of Trollers," which subsequent
writers on the pastime have bestowed upon him.

I Robert Nobbes was born at Bulwick in
Northamptonshire on 21st July 1652, and took his
M.A. degree at Cambridge in 1675. He was Vicar
of Applethorpe and Wood Newton, Northampton-
shire, 1676 to 1690, and was subsequently appointed
Rector of Sausthorpe, Lincolnshire, in 1702. He
......

132 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

Though not the first book to mention trolling, The
Compleat Trailer is an original work throughout, the
only manuals on the subject, which the author
appears to have read, being Dennys' Secrets of
Anglings Walton's Compleat Angler, and Nicholas
Cox's Gentleman' s Recreation, to the last two of which
he refers in his preface " To the Reader."

Prefixed to The Compleat Troller are two prefaces,
one to James Try on, Esquire, of Bulwick,
Northamptonshire, the other to the Ingenious
Reader : there are also four sets of verses, two from
appreciative friends to the author, and two by the
author himself Of these latter, one is " On the
Antiquity and Invention of Fishing," and is largely
borrowed from Dennys' Secrets of Angling. The other,
entitled " The Fisherman's Wish," is given below : —

Would I might live near Avon's flow'ry brink,
And on the World, and my Creator think ;
Whilst others strive ill gotten goods t'embrace,
Would I near Welland had a dwelling place.

Would I these harmless pastimes might pursue.
And uncontroll'd might Ponds and Rivers view :
Whilst others spend their time in base excess,
In Drinking, Gaming, and in Wantonness.

Would I might let my fancy feed its fill,
And daily by fresh Rivers walk at will,
Whilst others toyl in Hunting, and perplext,
Are with unquiet Recreations vext.

Would I might view the Compass of the Sky,
The flaming Chariot of the Worlds great eye,
And fair Aurora lifting up her head.
Blushing to rise from old Tithonus bed.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 133

Would I might walk in Woods and Forrests long,
In whose cool Bowers the Birds sing many a song ;
And in the Verdant Meadows fresh and green,
Would I might sit and Court the Summers Queen.

Sicoptat, R. N.

In the first chapter, " Of the Name and Nature of a
Pike," Nobbes thus illustrates the doctrine of the
survival of the fittest : —

This Commonwealth among the Fishes, is much
like Mr Hobbes's State of Nature, which is but
Status Belli, the Great Ones always devour the
less ; such is the Government, or rather Anarchy in
the Waters, where might will be sure to overcome
right, and the weakest go still to the Walls.

The second chapter treats " Of the Parts and
Lineaments of a Pike," and in the third chapter, " Of
the Age and Growth of a Pike," the rapid growth of
pike in a brook or river is noted : —

Jacks or Pickerills grow faster than great ones, and
I have observed in a cleer and springing Brook, that
a Jack spawn'd in March will take a Bait in October
following, and will be increased to Eighteen Inches
the next March. In standing water, as Motes and
Ponds, he grows nothing so fast ; for to try the
experiment, I have taken one out with a Cast-net in
May, Measured him and Mark'd him on his Tail, and
about Michaelmas I have taken the same fish, as
appear'd by the Mark, and then measured him again
and he hath not encreased in length above two
Inches, and very little in Breadth. A River Fish will
grow very fast till he come to be 24 or near 30
Inches, then he stands a little more at astay, and
spreads himself in thickness ; after that he will grow

134 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

a long time, and be much longer growing to his full
bigness from 30 Inches, than he was encreasing to
that proportion.

The fourth chapter treats " Of the Seat and
Harbour of a Pike," and states that the harbour is
amongst or near a bank of weeds, especially " Flags
and BuUrushes."

The best and securest way of Fishing these wide
Reaches, is by drawing the bait along the sides next
to you, except you can search the breadth of it, and
throw over to the farther side ; but that is but dull
and slow Sport, and it will spend a great deal of time
to Troll the length of a Furlong.

The haunts of the pike vary according to the
season of the year, and the " Pike, like a Person of
Quality, hath both a Winter and a Summer House.
... A Ford that is cleer and gravelly at the bottom,
especially if it have a Spit adjoyning to it that is
indifferent deep and weedy, is looked upon as a
probable place : for though they generally affect a
deep Water, yet they will get as near as they can to
a Ford or a Shallow ; there they delight themselves,
and sport with the little fry."

The fifth chapter treats " Of the best Seasons for
Trolling," Nobbes considering that December and
January are generally too cold for this sport.
" February is the first and none of the worst
Months he [ie., the troller] can pitch upon for his
sport ; . . . March is very seasonable and auspicious

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 135

to the TroUer, excepting the time of Spawning ; "
the fish are said to be then rather fastidious in
feeding, and are apt to leave the bait and not to
gorge it ; they are therefore better then taken with
snap tackle. " April will make him amends for his
former sufferings; and is a Month so inviting to
Sport, that it is both pleasant and profitable. . . .
The beginning of May is likewise very seasonable,
especially if it hits with the Proverb to be Cold
and Windy ; towards the latter end of it the Weeds
spring up, and are very offensive to the Hook ;
then begins the Trollers Vacation, which continues
till the latter end of August or the beginning of
September." The author considers October the best
of the autumn months ; November is also good, if it
is not too cold.

The sixth chapter deals with the " Feed of a Pike
and when he is fattest," while the seventh treats
" Of the Baits for Trolling," and here Nobbes
enumerates a variety of baits, but gives the prefer-
ence to a roach or a dace for thick water, and to a
gudgeon for bright and clear water.

There are still many old Thames fishermen who
have a hankering after that form of angling, now
illegal in the Thames — trolling with the dead gorge ;
they would probably agree with the reasons given by
Nobbes for preferring this method to fishing with
snap tackle : —

I never admired this way of Snap, as thinking it

136 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

too quick and surprising, to give any diversion ;
the Sport of Trolling consisting more in the
managing the Bite, in the playing of a Pike, and
his eager biting and running with the Bait, then just
a word and a blow, snapping him up and putting him
into the Bag.

The eighth chapter treats " Of the Pouch- Hook,"
and it is evident that the pattern of the dead gorge
trolling hook has altered very little since the time of
Nobbes, an illustration being given of this tackle,
both with a single and with a double hook. Nobbes
preferred the single hook form, because he thought
that it played the bait better. In this and in a later
chapter the author does not consider that a baiting
needle is necessary : —

You need not that which they call the Arming
Wyre to help you thrust it out of the Tail of the
Bait. . . . Some have besides the running Wire a
Knitting Needle on purpose, but if the first joint of
your Wire be stiff and strong, it may very well be
done with that.

The ninth chapter treats " Of the Trolling
Line":—

The best material for the composure of your
Line, is green or blew Silk, which Cerulean is most
resembling and agreeable to the Water; but it is
possible it may be only a fancy that that colour is of
more consequence than another ; yet sometimes the
pleasing of the fancy, does so much enliven and
encourage the Fisherman, that it makes him the
more active and laborious, and so by that means is
the occasion of all his sport ; and if his fancy diverts

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 137

him another way, he will take the less care and pains
in his present pastime.

The above explanation applies with equal, or
perhaps with greater force, to the success which
some fly-fishermen are apt to attribute to a particular
fly of their own tying or design.

The best way of preserving it [i.e., the line], is to
wax it sometimes with Bees-wax, and when it is wet
to wind it up loosely in long foldings, that the Air
may come in to dry it, or else let it dry at length,
and then wind it upon a Roll : with such usage, a
Silk Line will last beyond your expectation. . . .

Some make them [i.e., their lines] of Silk and
Silver, thinking that way to preserve it ; tho' the addi-
tion of Silver may be rather to please their fancy and
the gaiety of their humour, then to keep their Line
from perishing : such as they should have Silver
Hooks to their Silver Lines, that if it cannot take
Fish it self in the Water, it may take them ready
caught, and so be useful in saving their credit. ...

As to the length of the Line, it is good to have
enough, and far better to have than to lack ; . . .
As to the precise length of it, that need not be
determined, about 30 yards is a good medium for
the Pouch, I cannot see any reason why it need be
so long at Snap.

The tenth chapter discourses as follows " Of the
Pole":—

Supposing your Hook be good, and your Line
strong, you may make the better shift with an
indifferent Pole ; though some that are more curious
in their Tackling than painful and patient in their
Fishing, will not stir a foot without all the formalities

138 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

of an exquisite Fisherman : such precise Crafts
Masters as these, can spend their time in admiring
their Instruments, and sufficiently delight themselves
with the commendation of their own Materials. This
is certain and undeniable, that the longer the Pole
is, if it be streight and light, you will find the more
benefit in playing the Bait and throwing it from you ;
for if there be Flags or Reeds between the Bank and
the main deep, you can very hardly play your Bait
with a short Pole.

The eleventh chapter gives instructions " How to
Bait the Hook, and to play the Bait." The direc-
tions for baiting the hook are excellently stated.
The method of threading the bait on the hook I
have already quoted ; the instructions are continued
thus : —

The point of your Hook must be even with the
belly of the Bait ; for if it hang on either side, it
may hinder and check the Pike, who will probably
lay his mouth upon it ; for when he chops cross the
Fish, he may be pricked, and so leave you only the
hopes of another Bite ; when you have so put through
the Fish, then tie the Tail of the bait fast to the
joynt of the Wire with strong Thred, which will
both make it hang streight upon the Hook, and
preserve it from outward violences ; for if it be not
well fastened, the weeds will have so much power
over it, that they will soon tear it down to the Gills,
and so separate the Hook from the Bait ; some fasten
it with a Needle.

Supposing then that you cast out a very fair
throw, it may be a dozen or sometimes twenty
yards, which may easily be done if the River
requires it; let it first have a little time to sink,
then feel it, and draw it gently towards you; for

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 139

a Pike often takes it at the first sight before it
gets to the bottom, and if you snatch it hastily, you
may chance to give him such a discouragement, that
you may be deprived of your expected sport : after
you have given it an easie motion towards you, let
it have the liberty of sinking again, then draw it
slowly and softly, for if you jerk it too quick and
hastily, you will not give him leave to hold upon the
Bait ; . . . When you have raised your Bait so high
towards the top, it may be within two or three foot,
that you can perceive it to glister ; you may then
comfort your self with the hopes of a Pike that may
rise at it, as he often does, and therefore it is not
prudence to bee too hasty in taking out the Bate.

The following is, I think, the earliest description
of trailing : —

In some places they Troll without any Pole or
any playing of the Bait, as I have seen them throw
a Line out of a Boat, and so let it draw after
them as they Row forward ; but that must be a
careless and unsafe way, for so they may have Bites
and Offers so, yet it must certainly check the Fish
so much that he will never Pouch it ; I cannot tell
what Art they may have at the Snap, though it is
very improbable to have any as they go to work,
without either Pole or Stick.

The twelfth chapter describes " How to strike Pike
and how to land him " : —

Now when you have a Bite, and the Fish goes
down the Stream with it, we are apt to conceive it
is a small Jack ; but on the contrary if he sails slowly
up with the Bait, it is a sign of a good one ; for the
greater sort bite more calmly and moderately than
the less ; for they snatch, and away with it without

140 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

any care or deliberation. Old Fish are more wary
and cunning, they are sooner taken with a Line laid
for them all night, then by Trolling.

Nobbes gives very good advice in regard to the
landing of the fish : —

When you have after all this divertisement brought
him to the Bank, you will find something to do,
before you can confidently call him your own ; for
if you go unadvisedly to take him out, either by the
Back or the Tail, or any part of his Body, though
you may think his best is past, and his dancing days
are done, yet he may cut you another Capor ; and
if he has had a little breathing time, he may give
another leap, when you do not expect it ; the best
way then, is to use fair means, and invite to the land,
by persuasions, not compulsions, taking him by the
Head, and putting your fingers into his Eyes, which
is the fastest hold. If the Water be low, so that the
Bank rises some distance from it ; you must not fear
catching an Ague, by laying your Belly level with
the ground, especially if you have no contrivance to
guide him out to a more commodious place : some
will adventure to take him by the Gills, though that
hold is neither so secure nor so safe for the Fisher ;
because the Fish in that heat of passion, may acci-
dentally take revenge upon his Adversary, by letting
him blood in his Fingers, which way of Phlebotomiz-
ing is not esteemed so good, because some are of
opinion, that the teeth of a Pike are Venomous, and
those Wounds very difficult to be healed.

Nobbes does not recommend, nor does he appear
to have had any experience of, the use of a landing-
net, which he supposes " is made in the fashion of a
little Sparrow Net." He somewhat sarcastically con-

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 141

eludes his reference to the use of this implement as
follows : —

This is a very quaint and delicate way of
Trolling ; such as use it must have their Attendants
to assist them ; that, as the Philosopher said, Omnia
mea mecuin Porto. So they will have their Servitors
to carry their Implements and Tools after them ;
these are of more power on Shore, then in the Water,
and have more Authority to command their retinue
by the Land, than the Fish in the Waters.

The thirteenth chapter deals with " How to preserve
a River for Trolling." A description is here given
of the different forms of nets, of which " The first and
greatest, which may be called the Arch-Enemy, is
the Drag, which is as unmerciful as an Epidemical
Disease."

The fourteenth chapter, giving a description of the
rivers and a recipe for cooking a pike, concludes this
very exhaustive and interesting manual on the pike.

CHAPTER Vin

It would seem that Nobbes and the preceding
authors had exhausted all the material available for
works on angling, for in the books which immediately
follow, the reader looks in vain for new methods or
instructions.

In chronological order the next books to be dealt
with are Profit and Pleasure United ; or^ the Husband-
man's Magazine. By J. S., 1684, and The School
of Recreation ; or, the Gentleman's Tutor to those most
Ingenious Exercises of Hunting, Racing, . . . Fish-
ing, ... By R. H., London, printed for H. Rhodes,
1684.

To the second edition of Profit and Pleasure^
published in 1704, the author's name, J. Smith, is
affixed. The authorship of The School of Recreation
has been attributed by some to Richard Howlett, the
author of The Angler's Sure Guide ; it has also been
suggested that the initials R. H. are those of the
publisher, H. Rhodes, transposed ; only the initials
of the author are given in the Stationers' Registers,
so this point cannot now be definitely settled.

142

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

143

These books do not call for any further notice, as
their angling contents are mere repetitions of the
instructions contained in earlier treatises.

One does not usually look for striking originality
in encyclopaedic works, and one certainly does not
find this characteristic in that otherwise excellent
encyclopaedia of sport, TJie Gentleman's Recreation,
by Richard Blome, 1686. The only new method
described in the angling portion is the following
elaborate and ingenious method of carp-fishing : —

But all this while you are detained from the chief
Secrets, which in Truth should not be made common.
You must be first assured that the place where you
Fish for Carps is provided therewith, which to know
make use of these following Directions, not that they
tend barely to make the Discovery and no more ; for
you must find other necessary uses made of them,
for Instance, you Bait your Fish thereby, and make
them bold ; you also obtain a safe and sure place
for your Hook to rest on, which is a good
Convenience : and you are also assured that there
are Carps in the place : the Figure shews the Form.

ri!tiiUMiim.iiiiiiiimiiiiiiiniiiniiiiiii!mt|[p|nT77Za

O (

ffinuimiimiiiiiiminim'iiiniiiiimimiTnT

Frame some Bords together of such Length and
Breadth ; as you think fit, but for want of other Con-

144 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

venience, an old Door may serve the purpose, but
the larger your Platform is, so much the better. The
end Q is that which must be the Water side, at the
Letter S make a hole to receive a good strong Cord,
fastened with a knot on the inner side, then store
over your Door with strong Earth or Clay about two
Inches Thick; and so stiff, that it may not easily
dissolve, nor work off with the Water, then stick the
said Earth full of Beans (prepared as hereafter) at
every four Inches Distance ; the Letters V Y denote
them ; they must be very gently put in, so as a Carp
may easily Bite them out, yet so fast as not to be
washed out by the Water, when all is fixed, let the
end O be put into the Water sloping downwards,
then when the Hole is close ; on the bottom fasten
the cord T, at the Root of some Tree ; the next
Morning visit your Baits, pull out your Door
Leasurely ; if the Carps have eaten the Beans, tis a
good sign of catchsome, but if not try it a second
Day and Night ; if you then find the Beans unmoved,
conclude there are no Carps. If you find the second
time your Baits eaten. Replenish them, and think
not your time lost. In case the bottom of the Water
where you set your Door be clean and smooth, then
remove your Door, casting in two or three Handfuls
of the aforesaid Beans ; but in case the Ground, be
Muddy, Weedy, Rooty, or the like, let the Door be
rebaited and returned to the place where it was, for
there you may boldly let fall your Hook.

The way of ordering your Beans is thus. Take
half a Bushel of Beans, and let lye seven or Eight
Hours in warm Water, then Boil them in a large
clean Earthenware Pot in four Ounces of Honey,
and as many grains of Musk ; then boil them about
a quarter of an Hour, and so preserve them, for your
use to bait upon your Door. . . . When you perceive
that Carps are in the place, and that they bite your
Bait, then the Night before you Fish do thus; Put in

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS U5

some of your aforesaid Beans into some River Water
to Boil, and when they begin to bubble, put the
quantity of two small Beans of Aloes-cicatrina into
your Pot to about a Handful of your Beans, and let
it boil a little ; when the Beans are cold bait your
Door with them, the effect will be this ; The Carp
will eat them as before, and withall fall a purging
and scouring whatever is within them ; and con-
sequently will be exceedingly Hungry, so as to bite
at any thing ; then Early in the Morning Bait your
Hook (which should be strong and large) with your
biggest Beans, and let the point of your hook but
just pierce the skin of your Bean (but note that the
Beans wherewith you Bait your Hook, must not be
of the bitter ones) ; your Hook must have a Foot of
Line to Trail on the Water, and your Line must be
of Green Silk, with a Device to let go store of it as
you see occasion. When you perceive your Float to
Sink, then strike him, but upright not slanting ; and
when once he is hit, let him have Line enough to
tire himself.

An improved form of landing-net is described in
this book. It is of a V shape, and is strung upon a
forked stick ; various other kinds of nets are
mentioned, and an excellent description is given of
the method of throwing the cast-net.

xAccording to Isaak Walton, " He that views the
ancient Ecclesiastical Canons, shall find hunting to
be forbidden to churchmen, as being a turbulent,
toilsome, perplexing recreation ; and shall find
angling allowed to clergymen, as being a harmless
recreation — a recreation that invites to contemplation
and quietness." The principles laid down in a

K

146 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

work, entitled TJiree Dialogues on the Anmsements of
Clergymen^ are not equally indulgent to the sport of
angling.

These dialogues were found in manuscript, when
Dr Josiah Frampton's library was sold in 1729 or
1730. They were written in 1686, but were not then
published by the author, for fear of giving offence.
They were printed in 1796, when all fear of hurting
the feelings of anyone mentioned in them had
passed away.^

The author at the time these dialogues were
written was, according to his own account, "a very
incorrect young man. I had," he says, " entered into
the ministry with little attention to the duties I had
taken on me to discharge. I loved society, and was
fond of country diversions : and though I was fond
also of my book, I would at any time have left it for
a day's diversion with the hounds — a ramble in the
woods with my gun — or a game of cards, and a
dance in the evening." It happened that while Mr
Frampton with these frivolous inclinations held the
curacy of Wroxall, in Warwickshire, Dr Edward

^ From a letter dated nth April 1797, and signed "Will.
Gilpin," it appears that the publication of these letters was due
to William Gilpin, Prebendary of Salisbury, and the author of
Forest Scenery. On the strength of this letter, the authors of
the Bibliotheca Piscatoria state that these dialogues were
written by William Gilpin under the pseudonym of Josiah
Frampton. This, however, is manifestly impossible, as a
comparison of the dates, on which the dialogues and the
letter were respectively written, will show.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 147

Stillingfleet, then Dean of St Paul's, and afterwards
Bishop of Worcester, came to pay a visit in the
neighbourhood. While on his visit this eminent
divine was seized with a " violent fit of the gout," an
attack which may possibly have accounted for the
severity of some of his criticisms, and his host, Sir
Richard Burgoin, having been at the same time
called away owing to a domestic affliction, the Dean
appears to have passed the time by discussing with
the curate the amusements inappropriate for clergy-
men. The Dean held the opinion that the clergy
had then injured the respectability of their characters
by mixing too much with the amusements of laymen.

The dialogues are written in an amusing strain,
and contain several witty anecdotes : the following
is told of a clergyman, who was so fond of hunting
that he was led thereby to neglect his clerical duties.
On one occasion, when he was out hunting, the fox
took to earth, " on which he cried out, ' Gentlemen,
I must leave you : This puts me in mind, that I have
a corpse to bury at four o'clock this evening ; and I
fear that I shall be an hour too late.' "

After hunting and shooting had been discussed, the
conversation turned on angling : —

" You have said nothing against fishing. Do you
allow me to suppose this amusement to be a clerical
one ? It is silent, quiet, and may be contemplative."

" I am afraid," said the Dean, " I shall be thought too
rigid if I abridge a clergyman of this amusement :
and yet I cannot bring myself to allow him any

148 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

amusement, which arises from destroying Hfe. To
fishing is affixed a peculiar cruelty. An impaled
worm writhing upon a hook : or the convulsions of
a fish under the operation of having a barbed hook
extracted from its bowels ; are ideas which greatly
hurt my feelings. Catch your fish with a net and
you have my leave."

" But," said I, "Sir, the trout, and I believe other
fish, inhabit such little rapid rivulets, as are accessible
only to a fly. Nets are accommodated chiefly to large
rivers ; and they require a boat and other apparatus,
which a clergyman cannot always command. Besides,
the use of nets is commonly forbidden as too destruc-
tive. But the angling rod is generally allowed, and
easily procured : and many a clergyman who lives
near a trout stream, may find it convenient to bring
a dish of fish, which costs him nothing, now and then,
to his family."

"There is some force no doubt," answered the
Dean, " in what you say : and if the fish can be
caught in no other manner I know not how to object,
but still if I were the clergyman, I should leave other
people to catch them."

"But," said I, "Sir, many of our great churchmen
have indulged themselves in this amusement. That
skilful casuist, and able divine, Dr Donne, I have heard,
was once an able angler ; your worthy predecessor, Dr
Nowel, was likewise a great proficient in angling.
Our present worthy primate ^ also I have been told,
was inferior to neither of them in his love for angling.
And good Mr Walton, whose lives I have heard you
speak of as models of easy writing and good sense,
wrote a book (though it never perhaps caught your
attention), intitled. The Coniplcat Angler; or, The
ConteuLplative Man's Recreation.

"Indeed," said the Dean, "you have drawn up

1 Archbishop Sheldon.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 149

against me a most formidable body of evidence: but
will you give me leave to challenge them ? Donne,
you know, was esteemed in the early part of his life,
an incorrect man : and I suppose you are not much
acquainted with his opinion on the subject after he
became a pious divine.

" For my predecessor, Dr Nowel, I have a high
reverence ; and I have heard, as you have, that he
was an able angler. But I have heard also that he
made it a rule to give all his fish to the poor ; which
looks as if the good man was not quite easy in his
business ; but thought some kind of expiation neces-
sary. ... As to my friend Walton (whom I much
esteem) though I allow him to be a pleasing writer,
I doubt whether he is a deep reasoner. How angling
can be called the contemplative man's Recreation, I
cannot see. That the contemplative man may lay
his rod on the bank, and take out his book, or
meditate on a subject, I can easily conceive. But
what has that to do with angling? While he is
following his profession, and attending to his fly,
I should not give much for the produce of his
contemplation."

The curate next points out that the Apostles were
fishermen, and that " our Saviour himself bids Peter
cast his hook into the sea." To which the Dean
replied that Peter did not cast his hook into the sea
for amusement. However, he would not censure
angling too harshly, out of respect to the memory
of his father, who was both a very able angler and
a most humane man, and felt for every living creature
except a fish.

It is evident from the high opinion in which the
Dean held the game of shuttlecock, that he would

150 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

have regarded badminton as admirably adapted for
the clerical profession.

I then asked the Dean, if he had ever heard of the
game of shuttlecock ? or if he would laugh at me for
mentioning it to him as a good domestic exercise ?

" Laugh at you ! " said the Dean ; " I know no
game, that I value more. It has all the characters of
the amusement we want. It gives us good exercise
— it makes us cheerful — and has no connection with
our pockets : and if I may whisper another truth in
your ear, it does not require much skill to learn.
When my legs were in better order, I have spent
many a rainy half-hour with Sir Roger, at Shuttle-
cock in his hall. . . . Laugh at you ! so far from it
that I respect the man, who invented shuttlecock."

In 1696 the first edition of The True Art of
Anglings by J. S., was published. From the pub-
lishers' point of view this must have been a very
successful work, for it ran through eleven editions,
the last appearing in 1770. After the first two
editions the title was changed to The Compleat
Fisher ; or^ The True Art of Angling.

As is pointed out in the Bibliotheca Piscatoria^
it is probable that the author of this work was the
J. Smith, Gent, who wrote Profit and Pleasure
United, for, apart from the initials, certain similar
passages in the two books suggest this conclusion.
Compare, for instance, the following extracts : —

Profit and Pleasure. — Which Line must be either
of Silke or Haire, though the latter I prefer before
the former ; and in twisting or breading, you must
observe an exact evenness, least one haire being

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 151

shorter than the rest, the whole stress lye upon it,
and it breaking render the rest too weak.

Compleat Fisher, 3rd edition. — Yet I prefer the
Horse-hair as the best ; and in twisting or braiding,
observe an exact evenness, for one Hair being
shorter than the rest in a Link, the whole stress will
lye on that, and in breaking renders the rest much
the weaker, and often a good Fish is lost for want
of this observance.

Profit and Pleasure. — If he lye still or move
slowly after he has taken the Baite, and you cannot
find which way his head lyes, strike directly upward,
and you will hardly miss him.

Compleat Fisher, — If you find after he has taken
the Bait, he lies still, as sometimes he will, move your
hand gently, to get notice which way his Head lies,
lest in striking you happen to pull the Bait out of
his Mouth, if that cannot be discerned strike directly
upward.

The True Art of Angling was printed for George
Conyers at the Golden Ring, and John Sprint at
the Bell in Little Brittain : it has been stated that
the author of this book was John Sprint, the printer
here mentioned. The following note, which is
attached as a footnote to a poem entitled " The Art
of Angling," in Ruddiman's Collection of Scarce
Pieces, is of interest in this connection : —

The medicinal virtues of these and other river fish
are set forth with a profundity of physical knowledge,
in a treatise written in Hebrew by that learned
Rabbi Soloman Jarchi : a translation whereof into
English, under the title of The Complete Fisher, hath

152 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

passed through six editions, which is an incontestable
argument of its vast merit. But it is fit the Reader
should be apprized, that the sly Bookseller, the better
to palm his translation off on the world as an original,
hath transposed the initials of the true author's name ;
for the title page saith, by J. S. instead of S. J.,
Soloman Jarchi. Wolfii Biblioth. Hebr.

Beyond the above statement there do not appear
to be the slightest grounds for supposing that Rabbi
Soloman Jarchi^ was in any way the author of
this book. It is perhaps possible that one or two
of the Choice Secrets, such as that for taking fish in
the hands, may have been taken indirectly from
some work of Soloman Jarchi's, but even this I do
not think is likely. TJie True Art of A ngling, more-
over, is not a book which deals much with the
medicinal properties of river fish.

The Tf'ue Art of Angling is compiled to a certain
extent from previous works, but at the same time
it contains an appreciable amount of original matter.
The following passage is an almost verbatim extract
from Chetham's Angler's Vade-Mecum : — "Cast the
Fly behind a Trout at his rising, and so with a gentle
Hand draw it over his Head, so that not scaring him,
he will quickly take it if it be the right colour."
Again the peculiar method of ground-baiting for

1 Rabbi Soloman Ben Jarchi was born at Troyes, in Cham-
pagne, in the year 1040. He died in France in 1105. His
writings, which were very numerous, were partly elucidations
of the Talmud, and partly commentaries on the Old Testament
{Diet. Univ. Biogr.).

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 153

carp, described in Blomc's Gentleiuan's Recreation, is
repeated here.

The following advice on carp-fishing is, I think,
given for the first time : —

If you fish for Carp, cut no Weeds in the River,
nor on the sides, to make a convenient standing, for
then they will perceive they are laid wait for, and
forsake that Haunt not returning in a considerable
time.

A method for taking fish in the hands is described.
The hands having been anointed with cinquefoil,
nettles, and house leek juice, the fish will come to
them and may then be taken out. These directions
are repeated in many subsequent angling books.

The miraculous, but I should imagine, rather wet,
feat of walking on the water can be accomplished
according to this book, by tying a "thick leather
gut," well blown up, under the arm-pits, and attaching
leather drums to the feet.

The popularity of this book was probably due to
its low price of sixpence, and the handiness of its
size, 24mo. To the third edition (1704), an abstract
of Gilbert's Method of Fishing in Hackney River was
added, while in the second issue of the fourth edition
(1796) a list of various angling stations was sub-
stituted for this abstract.

The True Art of Angling v^ of considerable interest
in regard to certain points of similarity between it
and The Young Sportsman^ s lustructor ; both were
exceedingly small books, both were printed for G.

154 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

Conyers at the Ring in Little Brittain, and both
were sold for sixpence. They were, moreover, with
Gilbert's Angler's Delight yth^ earliest works to advise
the adoption of specific methods for special rivers.
These points of resemblance seem to me to suggest
the probability that the success of The True Art of
Angling induced Conyers, who at the time was
publishing posthumous editions of Markham's works,
to publish (sometime between 1706 and 17 16) another
book, similar in price but of even smaller size, and
to affix to it the initials of the well-known writer
Gervase Markham.

Another very interesting point in this connection
is, that the fourth edition (1716) and some of the
subsequent editions of The True Art of Angling
contain an advertisement of The Young Sportsman's
Instructor in Angling, Hawking^ Hunting, Ordering
of Singing Birds, Connies, Dogs, their Diseases and
Cure. Price 6d.

A work which attained some popularity about
this period was The Innocent Epicure ; or, the Art of
Angling, a poem, London, 1697. The preface is
signed by N. Tate, who states that the poem was
sent to him by an unknown author, " with Commission
to Publish or Suppress it " as he thought fitting. Tate
submitted it to several experienced anglers, who
agreed in their opinions that it far surpassed any-
thing which had been published in prose on the
subject, even in the useful and instructive part of
the work, and that it contained not only all the

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 155

necessary instructions, but also "several Uncommon
and Surprising Remarks." But in spite of these
statements the poem could not possibly at any time
have possessed any practical value.

The two following extracts will serve to illustrate
its practical utility as well as its poetical style : —

Hair best with Hair, and Silk with Silk agrees ;
But mixt, have each their Inconveniences.

Fineness in Angling's th' Anglers nearest Rule ;
Tho Prudence still must regulate in all.
For Wise Men will not trust a single Hair
With Weight, which dead, it could not easily bear.

If the author used a hair line of sufficient strength to
lift the dead weight of the fish he hoped to catch, he
certainly did not fish very fine.

In 1700 there was published The Genteel Recrea-
tion; or, the Pleasure of Angling, a poem. With a
Dialogue between Piscator and Corydon, by John
Whitney, A Lover of the Angle, London, Printed in
the Year, 1700.

The preface of this work concludes in the following
half apologetic manner : —

I make no question, but some will find fault and
I expect it, but when I consider the world affords
both wise Men and Fools, and both find equal admirers
I am satisfied ; as to the verse there is faults and folly
enough, but grant Poetical License, if in pleasing
nobody I have pleased myself, and that's all the
reward I desire.

It was certainly fortunate for the author that he

156 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

was so easily pleased, for this collection of bad
rhymes hardly deserves the name of a poem, and
contains very little of angling interest to recommend
it. John Whitney, however, was evidently a practical
angler, and the book contains a few useful hints, such
as the following remarks in the preface on the method
of scouring worms : —

I use to scour my Worms without Fenil or
Grass, as most do about me, tho they use them
commonly just taken out of the ground, when I first
take my worms, I put them into a large earthen Pan,
that they may have room to crawl and purge out
their earth and slime for about twenty four hours ;
then I wrap them in a Greasy Dish Clout which hath
been used much, but not to salt meat, then I lay
moist clean Moss in the bottom of the Pan, with
worms in the clout and cover them over with more,
in three days they'll begin to eat their way through
the clout, and in the Moss scour themselves, when
hungery ; they'll return to the clout again to feed,
and in a weeks time be fit for use. I kept some
months with once a week changing the Clout and
Moss.

Whitney was not a believer in the old method
of adding tar to the worm to render it more
attractive : —

A worm well scour'd without the help of stinking tar,
That was her bait and that was best by far,
Tho to my cost I've try'd and certain know,
That Tarr's strong stench hath little here to do,
But kill the worm, but I confess that fishes smell,
Or that my apprehension is but ill,
For I have seen them to my flote and Lead repair,
And gently touch them with insulting care.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 157

This book is the first I believe to recommend the
use of the floating fly. It is not recommended,
however, for the purpose of circumventing the wily-
trout, but in order to prevent the fly being taken by
the minnows : —

Sing next the trouble of the Angling Rod,
The little Menow, and his blind abode,

He'll nibble and do all that e'er he can

To raise your passion, yet you must not swear.

For frightning other Fishes that are neer.

All baits he loves, and nothing will deny

His Appetite, except it be the Fly,

And this must on the water swim, if low,

'Tis certain gone as other baits I know.

The Dialogue between Piscator and Corydun
contains nothing of any interest, and therefore calls
for no comment. The book concludes with a post-
script describing a day's netting of the great Fish
Pond at Winckhurst : " I can justly sum up of that
day's action, that we took two Thousand Seven
Hundred and Fifty Carps."

A list of angling books, written by William White,
Crickhowell, Brecknockshire, about the year 1806,
thus describes The Angkf^s Sure Guide: —

The Angle f^s sure Guide; or. Angling improved, by
R. H. Esqre., 8vo, 1706. It is the most Elaborate
Work of Fishing and making the Tackle now extant,
the Author is imagined to have been a Barrister at
Law, when after 40 Years practice in the Art of
Angling he devoted the remainder of his Life to the

158 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

Writing the above Copious and Instructive treatise,
which runs as far as 296 pages of very close Letter-
press with a frontispiece of a Man in the proper
Habit Fishing, the cuts of the Fish are on a single
Leaf, and very indifferently Executed.

Robert Howlett, the author of The Angler^ s Sure
Guide, thus commences his preface : " The Principles
and Practice of the ingenious Art of Angling, are
known to bear an antient Date ; Amos 4, 2, Hab.
I, 15, and are so admirably defined and propagated,
especially by that great Practitioner, Master, and
Patron of it, Dr Donne, in his Secrets of Angling,
that I have seen little more added to his Documents,
than some Experiments. And indeed his seems to
be the best Foundation of all Superstructures of this
Kind : and upon that Basis chiefly have I raised
mine ; not intended so much to instruct the Beginner
in the Rudiments of this Art, as to improve the
Knowledge of the Proficient." A perusal of this
work, however, reveals the fact that it was not so much
based upon Denny s' Secrets, as upon Chetham's
Angler's Vade-Mecuin, and also that Venables,
Cotton, and Walton have been extensively drawn
upon.

Apart from the copious extracts from these authors,
the book contains a great deal that is original, and
must be pronounced by far the most practical and
useful manual of its time.

Very full instructions are given for making a
ground-rod, a fly-rod, a " Travelling Rod," and a

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 159

dapping rod. From his description of the fly-rod,
it is evident that Howlett was acquainted with
Venables' Experienced Angler: — "But a Fly-Rod
ought not to be so very taper; yet both so as to
ply and bend gently and equally ; the equal and
proportionable bending being the main thing to
preserve the Line, next the Skill of the Angler ; "
" but," says Venables, " my opinion is that the equal
bending of the Rod chiefly (next to the skill of the
Angler) saveth the line."

The author recommends that the ground- and fly-
rods should be at least i6 or i8 feet long for
large rivers. The butt or stock of the travelling
rod must contain four tops, one for trout, another for
barbel, another for carp, and the last for small fish ;
the joints of this rod, which must not exceed two
feet and two or three inches in length, are six in
number : all the tops are to be tipped with whalebone.

Howlett recommends the use of Indian Grass
instead of hair for very fine fishing, and gives
instructions for dressing it with the fat skimmed
from boiled fresh meat The grass thus treated
" will last a long time, and be sounder and stronger
than the best single Hairs : especially if you oyl
them, when you find they become too dry by long
keeping. Or if you cannot get Indian-Grass, make
use of the smallest and soundest Bowel or Lute-
strings you can procure." The catgut is to bie
dressed in the same way as the grass, and is to be
carefully tested every time before it is used.

160 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

Chetham alludes to having heard " an Angler
lately, highly commend a Dibbing Line made of
white Virginal Wyre, the brittleness or stiffness of
it " being tempered by heating it in a charcoal fire.
Hovvlett also mentions the use of these lines : " Some
use well Neal'd Wire-Lines of several sizes, both to
angle for some Fish, and dap with for others ; but
they are very apt to kink, and then break at that
place." An attempt has been made in recent years
to introduce the use of these lines, but the objections,
mentioned by Howlett, have not as yet been over-
come.

In dealing with the various methods of placing
the shots. and bullets on the line, mention is made of
a plan adopted in Shropshire : —

In Shropshire, they use no Lead at all on this
Line, but neatly cover the shank of the Hook with
a very thin Plate of Lead made taper, so as to slip
the Bait upon it, that the Lead may not hang in the
Weeds or Stones, nor the Fish catch hold of it
instead of your Bait, as Trouts will ; nor take distaste
at the sight of it, as some may.

The method of making a self-cocking float is thus
described : —

But when I fish with a Float at any Depth, and
with a Lead so small as will not make my Float to
sink, or without any Lead, and yet would have my
Float to cock ; I put into my Float, if a Quil-Float,
one Shot, or more, as I see cause, and stop the Float
with a wir'd Plug, or cement it in the middle, as in
Sect. 22 of this Chapter.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 161

The angler is recommended to have all his quill
floats tipped with red, and the method, not a very
elegant one, of so colouring them is described. In
" Float- Angling at Leiger " the addition of a small
float above the float ordinarily used, is recommended,
"to keep that Float from whirling, and the Line
from twisting or snarling."

The second chapter deals very exhaustively with
the way to procure the different kinds of baits, how
to preserve them, and how to bait the hook with
them, while the third chapter treats " Of alluring
Ointments." Many of the receipts are the same as
those given by Chetham.

The forerunner of the spike, which is now fitted to
most fly-rods, appears from a description given in
Chapter IV. of this book to have been a socket of
horn or of wood armed with an iron spike ; it was
chiefly used when landing a fish single-handed ; the
iron spike was fixed in the ground, then the rod was
inserted into the socket, and the fish netted out.

In dealing with the natural history of the salmon,
Howlett reverses the theory, which is advanced
nowadays, that salmon eat nothing in fresh water.
He seems to think that the salmon go to the sea for
a course of free purgation, to recover from the effects
of the aldermanic over-feeding in which they have
indulged during their sojourn in fresh water : —

For Salmon being Fish of Prey, and great Feeders,
Nature directs them to the salt Waters, as Physick
to purge and cleanse them, not only from their

I.

162 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

Impurities after Spawning, but from all their muddy
terrene Particles and gross Humours, acquired by
their extraordinary excessive Feeding all the
Summer in fresh Rivers. . . . And when they are
fatted and glutted with their long, excessive Feeding
in fresh Rivers, and have spawn'd in the latter end
of the Year, repair to the Sea for Warmness, and to
be purged from their gross Humours by the Calidity
of the Saline Water ; and when Winter is over,
return to their Summer Habitations.

Hewlett is, I believe, the first author to describe
the method of fixing rings to a rod. In dealing with
salmon-fishing he gives the following directions : —

About Four Inches above your Tumbrel strike
into your Stock a Loop made of stiff Iron-Wire, up
to the Head, for the Line to run through, having first
made Two little Holes in your Stock with a very
small Awl, to let in the sharp Ends of the Loop, lest
you flat the Head of the Loop by driving it in :
After the same manner drive in such Loops all the
way up your Stock, about a Foot and a half, or Two
Foot, one Loop from another ; and be sure to place
the Loops so, that they may stand in a direct Line
one against another, that your Silk-Line may run
smooth through them all.

When you have thus looped the Stock of your
Rod, loop also the top after this manner ; Take small
Brass- Wire, neal it very well, and therewith make
Loops of the same Fashion as the other, but some-
what longer, and bind them on your Top length-ways,
with a strong well waxed Silk, so far only as to leave
the Eye of the Loop unbound, to be turned up, for
your Silk-Line to run through, as those on your
Stock; place them about half a Yard one from
another, and right against one another, as you were
directed to do on the Stock, till you come to the

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 163

small end of the Top ; so that when the Splices both
of Top and Stock are bound together (when you
come to use your Rod) the Loops on your Top may
range with the Loops on your Stock in a strait
Line ; and at the very point End of your Top, bind
on one of your Loops, that the Head or Ring part
of the Loop may just over-reach the Top-point, and
not turned up as the rest are to be, but lie strait
out, through all which Loops draw your Silk-Line
when you come to fish ; but be sure all your Loops
both on Stock and Top, when put together, be
exactly and directly even against one another, other-
wise your Silk-Line will not run clear.

Mention is made of some record trout, but the
author declines to vouch for the accuracy of the
measurements, as he was not Occulatus Testis of
either : the first one mentioned was taken in a cast-
net at Newbury, and measured 45 inches in length.
Howlett considers that this fish ought to have been
presented to King Charles IL, who at the time of
its capture was staying in Newbury, and it would
have been presented to him " as a Rarity, had not
those Proud Epicurean Belly-Gods been more intent
in sacrificing to their own Net, and gratifying their
covetous, greedy Appetites, than in paying a dutiful
Reverence to their Sovereign."

Another trout is alluded to, which was caught at
Tyrone, in Ireland, and measured 46 inches in
length.

Howlett also gives a very marvellous instance of
the rapid growth of some trout, which were placed in
a freshly made fish pond at Lewisham : seven brace

164 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

of trout, the largest not measuring more than 7
inches, were placed in this pond, which was fed only
by springs ; in thirteen months' time, the pond was
cleaned out, and then three brace of fish were taken
out, each measuring over 20 inches in length.

In angling for trout "with the Ground-Line in
clear Water at bottom," the angler is recommended
to thread his worm on the hook with the aid of a
baiting needle. The method recommended for
angling with worms in clear water, either at the top,
or at mid-water, is evidently taken from Cotton's
instructions.

It appears from this book that it was sometimes
the custom to use as many as four artificial flies on
the line at the same time.

Howlett describes a very lazy way of legering. A
small hawk bell is suspended on a forked stick, round
which the line is wound, and " When you have a Bite,
the Bell will give you sufficient Notice without your
Watching ; and the Line wound on the Fork, by its
running off, will not only give you time to take hold
of your Rod, but also prevent checking the Fish
before he gorges your Bait."

In dealing with the pike, Howlett borrows largely
from Nobbes. According to this book a one-year-old
pike ought to be called a shottrel, a two-year-old a
pikerel, a three-year-old a pike, and a four-year-old a
luce.

Howlett was of opinion that the leaded hooks
usually used in trolling were often the cause of the

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 165

pike leaving the bait without gorging it ; he therefore
dispensed with the leaded shank to the trolling
hooks, merely placing a bullet on the hook within the
mouth of the bait.

The author considered it too tedious to wind up his
line on the winch in trolling : he preferred to gather
it up round the four fingers of his left hand in hanks
of about 8 or lo inches long.

It is interesting to compare Howlett's account of
toads killing carp, with the account in Walton's book
of these fish being killed by frogs ; they both seem to
be referring to the same case : —

But how they so often come to decay unknown, is
mysterious ; nor can I dive into the cause of it, unless
it should be by such Destruction, an Acquaintance of
mine once told me, viz. That he had three Ponds very
near his House, one above another, well stor'd with
Carps, (no Pikes in them at allj which he preserved
with all the Care he could by staking, &c. only took
out now and then a Brace, or two, for his own Use ;
He was a Man well beloved of his Neighbours ; but
still he found his Ponds grew very thin of Fish, more
than formerly ; At last walking by the sides of his
Ponds, in the Spring of the Year, he spied a great
Water-Toad upon the very Head of one of his
biggest Carps ; which causing him to look more
narrowly about his Ponds, he found two more large
Carps with Toads, on their Heads in like manner ;
which he took up with a Net, Toads and all. And
from thence concluded, his Carps were destroy'd no
other way, without his Knowledge ; and thereupon
he made it his Business, to destroy all the Frogs and
Toads he could find about his Ponds, by laying them
dry, &c. And after a few Years, found his Fish to

166 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

increase and multiply, much more than they did
many Years before.

A very ingenious method is described for making a
luminous float to be used for carp-fishing at night.
It consists in placing a glow-worm inside a swan-
quill float. In dealing also with carp-fishing the
author recommends the use of a boom, similar to that
now used in sea-fishing, for the purpose of keeping
two hooks apart. The boom consists of a piece of
brass wire 1 2 inches long ; the line is whipped to the
middle of the wire, " so as the two Hooks and Wire
may hang even at the End of the long Line, like a
Pair of Scales."

In angling for tench the angler is recommended
to nip off the head of the worm, which is threaded on
the hook tail first with the head left hanging
unthreaded. The success achieved by nipping off the
head of the worm is attributed either to the worm
being thus prevented from creeping into the mud or
under stones, or else to the worm more closely
resembling the chopped up portions of worms thrown
in as ground-bait. In hot weather when the tench are
swimming nearer the surface of the water, the float
may be dispensed with, and the bait drawn up and
down in the water among the weeds.

In describing bream-fishing, Howlett refers the
reader to Mr Isaak Walton, in his Compleat Angler.

A very unsportsmanlike way of fishing for roach
below London Bridge is described : a heavily

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 167

weighted line, furnished with about a dozen roach
hooks on bristles, lies on the bottom of the river, the
angler holding one end of the line in his hand ; after
feeling two or three tugs, he pulls up ; and frequently
takes several fish at once ; the hooks are baited with
either small white snails or with periwinkles.

Various receipts are given for cooking the different
kinds of fish, and a chapter is devoted to describing
the preservation of fish in stews and fish ponds.
This very exhaustive treatise then concludes with a
chapter on the Laws concerning Angling, and an
Appendix containing Prognostics of the Weather
and other useful hints.

CHAPTER IX

The next book to be dealt with is, The Young
Sportsman^ s Instructor, In Angling, Fowling, Hawk-
ing, Oi'dering Singing Birds, Hawks, Poultry, Conies,
Hares, and Dogs, and how to Cure them, by G. M.
Sold at the Gold Ring in Little Brittain, price 6d.
In a former chapter I have already stated my
reasons for not according to this book a date of
publication earlier than that of The Angler's Sure
Guide.

The following extracts, taken from a copy of the
first edition in the Bodleian Library, are written in a
far more practical style than that of any of the
instructions contained in Markham's books : —

Let your Line be in thickness and length according
as the Rivers or Ponds you fish in require. For
Fishing in the Thames let your Line be of a great
length, usually 5 yards long ; for the New River a
Line of 2 yards is sufficient ; in Hackney River as
long a Line it requires as the Thames, and also as
long a Fishing-cane.

In none of Markham's angling treatises is such

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 169

attention paid to detail as in the following paragraphs
from The Young Sportsman's Instructor : —

7. All your Tackling in Order, go to the River, and
find a Place, if you can, that hath a gravelly or
smooth Bottom, and about 2 or 3 yards in depth, the
Stream not too swift, then about a yard from the
place you design to Fish at, cast in a quarter of a
Peck of Grains, or as many more if you please, dip
them first in the River, that they may sink the better,
and about an Hour after you may begin to fish ; for
by that time its probable the Fish may have found
them. If you have not Sport in an Hour, you may
conclude there is none, or else that Pcarch and Pike
are there, that live on small Fish.

8. Then plumb the Ground, and fish about 2
Inches from the Bottom ; the best Summer Bait,
except in April and May, their Spawning time, when
they are not gone, should be large Wheat, ordered as
Furmety, which may be kept 1 5 or 20 days in Water
or Beer, putting in fresh as the Skin grows upon it,
if you keep it in Water, when you put any in a Box
for present Angling, put Wort, or Ale, or Beer to it a
while, or you may boyl good Grain, as Wheat, Malt,
&c., in Milk till it's soft, or in sweet Wort which is full
as good, and peel off the outward Rine, which is the
bran, and so use it ; or if you please you may fry it in
Milk and Honey, or steep it in strong scented Oyls,
as Spike, Amber, Ivy, Polypody, Anise, Turpentine,
oyl of Peter, Assa Faetida, &c.

Your Hook thus baited with a Corn, the point
covered with a thin Rind, that you may see the
White on one side, cast in your Line above the
Stream, near the side, the Float being upright,
swimming down the Stream, when you see the
Float sink, strike pretty quick, according to the
strength of your Line ; if the Fish is too large,
make use of your landing Net, and after the catch-

170 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

ing 3 or 4 Fishes, cast in a handful of Grains, and
now and then lifting the Float above Water, and so
you may catch many Fishes.

The following is the passage in which reference is
made to The Angler's Sure Guide : —

To Angle with an artificial Fly, that is, a Fly in
the likeness of a natural Fly ; you must have Fur,
Feathers, Wool, Down, Silk, Worsted, Bears hair,
Spaniels hair. Dogs hair, Sheeps Wooll, Mo-hair,
Cow-hair, Camlets, Furs, Hackles or Feathers of a
Cocks neck or tail of several Colours, Silk of all
Colours, Wire and Twist, Silver Twist, Gold Twist,
Silver and Gold Wire (Read some of these in a Curious
Book lately printed called, The Angler's sure Guide.
Sold at the Ring in Little Brittain), and the like,
suitable and proportionable to the Fly you would
imitate.

Mr Pearson's reprint is not a complete one ; it
terminates with the instructions given for obtaining
worms by shaking the earth by driving a poker into
the ground. Mr Pearson appends the following note
to his reprint : " The above was also reprinted in an
altered and extended form, with the same woodcut,
in a larger work, entitled, The Compleat Husband-
man and Gentleman's Recreation, i8mo, is.; and
in The Husbandman's Jewel, i8mo, is., both printed
for G. Conyers, at the Ring in Little Brittain,
circa 1654." This note as far as the date is con-
cerned is incorrect. The Young Sportsman's In-
structor was printed in a slightly altered form in
The Husbandman's Jewel, which was published at

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 171

one shilling by G. Conyers ; to this work neither
the name nor initials of any author are attached,
but The Compleat Husbandman, also published by
Conyers at one shilling, and with which this book
was bound up, is stated on the title-page to be " By
G. Markham, Gent." This edition of The Compleat
Husbandman contains a catalogue of the books pub-
lished by Conyers, and among these books The
A ngler's sure Guide appears : it could not therefore
have been published before 1706.

The following extracts are not included in Mr
Pearson's misleading reprint. After describing the
method of making an artificial cod-bait, a list of
" Proper Flies for every Month " is given, evidently
compiled from The Angler's Vade-Mecum and referring
to live flies ; —

February. — Palmer Flies, little Red Brow, the
silver Hackle, the gold Hackle, the great blew dun,
the dark brown.

March. — The early bright brown, the little whirling
dun, the Thorn tree Fly, the whitish dun, the little
black Gnat, the blew dun, the little bright brown.

April. — The little dark brown, the small bright
brown, the Violet Fly, the great whirling dun, the
Horse-flesh Fly, the yellow dun.

May. — The green Drake, the dun Cow, the black
May fly, the camlet fly, the Grey Drake, the yellow
Palmer, the Turkey Fly, the little dun, the light
brown, the white Gnat, the Cow Lady, the Peacock
Fly, the cow turd Fly.

June. — From the ist to the 24th. The Stone fly
and green Drake, the Barn fly, the Owl fly, the
purple Hackle, the Plesh Fly, the purple gold Hackle,

172 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

the little Flesh-fly, the Ant fly, the Peacock fly, the
little Black Gnat, the brown Gnat, the green grass-
hopper, the brown Hackle, the dun Grasshopper.

July. — The orange fly, the Badger fly, the Wasp
fly, the little white dun, the black Hackle, the black
brown dun, the Shell fly.

August. — The Fern fly, the late ant fly, Harry-
long-leg, the white Hackle.

September. — The late Badger, Camel brown
Fly.

October. — The same flies that were used in
March.

The same list of flies is given in the version of
this book which appears in The Husbandman^ s
Jewel

A comparison of the following extract with
Walton's Compkat Angler vjiW show from whence the
instructions for tying artificial flies were obtained : —

A rtificial Flies how to make theni^ and the Season
they are to be 7ised in.

In April a Stone-fly is in Season, the body of it is
made with black Wooll, made yellow under the
Wings, and under the Tail, the Wings made of
Mallards Feathers. May at the beginning, a ruddy
Fly is in Season, make the body of red Wooll wrapt
about with blew Silk, the Wings made of the Wing
of a Drand a red Hackle.

The yellow or green Fly is made of yellow Wooll,
his Wing made of red Hackle and the Wing of a
Drake.

The dun Fly is made of black Wooll, and some-
times dun, in season in March, his Wings made of
Partridge Feathers, black Drake's Feathers, and the
Feathers under his Tail.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 173

The black Fly in season in May, made of black
Wooll, and wrapt about with Peacock's Tail : his
Wings the Feather of the Wing of a brown Capon,
with the blew Feathers in his Head.

In June the said yellow Fly is in season, made of
black Wooll with a yellow List on either side, the
Wings of a Buzzard, bound with broken Hemp.

Also the Moorish Fly in season in June, made of
duskish Wooll, the Wings the black Feathers of a
Mall Drake.

Also in the middle of June, the Taring Fly made
of Bear's Wooll, the Wings made contrary one
against the other of the whitish Feathers of a Mall
Drake.

In July the Wasp Fly in season, made of black
Wooll, wrapt about with yellow Silk ; the Wings
made of the feathers of a Buzzard or Drak.

The Shell Fly good in the middle of June, made
with greenish Wool), wrapt about with Pearls of a
Peacock's Tail, the Wings made of a Buzzard's
Feathers.

The dark Drake Fly, made of black Wooll, wrapt
about with black Silk, in season in August ; the
Wings made of the Feathers of a Mall Drake with
a black Head.

The May Fly, made of greenish Colour Cruel or
Willow Colour, and darken it in most Places with
wax Silk or ribb'd with a black Hair, or some of
them ribb'd with a Silver Thread, and such Wings
for the Colour, as you see the Fly to have at that
Season.

The Oak Fly, the Body made of Orange paring
and black Cruel ; the Wings, the brown of a Mallard's
Feathers.

Blome's instructions, for making carp hungry by
purging them with Socatrine aloes, the method of
taking fish in the hands, and the method of walking

174 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

on the water are all copied into this book from The
True Art of Angling.

The book concludes with a " Pleasant Story for
Anglers." " One day a person being fishing, it
happened that he pull'd out a dead Man's Skull,
and he imagining that it came there by chance, it
was but a Deed of Charity to bury it, where upon
he goes home and gets a Spade, and finding a
convenient Place he fell to digging, and having dug
deep, he espied a large old Bag, which pulling out,
found it to be full of Gold, and thus was the poor
Man enriched unexpectedly." The unexpected good
fortune of this angler reminds one of the angler in
George Turberville's ballad of " A Controuersie of a
conquest in Loue 'twixt Fortune and Venus."

Whilst Fissher kest his line the houering fish to hooke,
By hap a rich man's Daughter on the Fissher kest hir looke.
Shee fryde with frantick loue, they marid eke at last :
Thus Fissher was from lowe Estate in top of treasure plast.
Stoode Fortune by and smylde : " how say you, Dame,"

quoth shee
To Venus, " was this Conquest your's, or is it due to mee ? "
"'Twas I (quoth Vulcan's wife) with help of Cupid's Bo we,
That made this wanton wench to rage, and match herself so

lowe."
" Not so, 'twas Fortune I, that brought the trull in place ;
And Fortune was it that the Man stoode so in Mayden's

grace ;
By Fortune fell their loue, 'twas Fortune strake the stroke ;
Then detter is this Man to mee that did the Match prouoke."

I think that I have now sufificiently proved that
Markham could not possibly have written the angling

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 175

portion of The Young Sportsman's Instructor^ but
since writing the above notes, I have discovered
the source from which that work was stolen.

In 1705, the following book was published: The
Secrets of Angling ; Imparting the best and choicest
Experiments for taking all sorts of Fish^ with Fly^
Worm, Paste, and other Baits ; also to know their
Haunts, and hoiv to Angle for them in all Waters and
Weathers. By C. G. a Brother of the Angle, London.
Printed and Sold By A. Baldwin at the Oxford-arms
in Warwick-Lane, 1705.

The angling portion of The Young Sportsman' s
Instructor is practically a verbatim copy of this book,
with the following slight alterations.

TJie Secrets of Angling begins : —

Angling.

In my directions for Angling, I shall in the first
place notice of our Angler's Apparel.

I. Let your Cloaths be of dark Colours, &c.

The Young Angler's Instructor begins : —
The Young Angler's Instructor.

He that would be a Compleat Angler ought to
observe these things following : —

I. His Cloaths ought to be of a dark Colour, &c.

The Secrets of Angling does not contain the
bracketed reference to The Angley's Sure Guide
contained in The Young Sportsman's Instructor,

176 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

The order in which some of the concluding
paragraphs are arranged is different in the two
books. Amidst the angling matter contained in
The Secrets of Angling, there are abruptly inserted,
without any previous explanation to account for their
presence, various instructions for japanning, and for
painting in oils and water-colours. The presence of
these instructions is probably explained by the fact
that this treatise on angling was first published, in
1704, among a collection of tracts on other subjects,
under the collective title of A Family Jewel ; or.
The Woman's Councellor. . . . L. A. Baldwin at
the Oxford -arms in Warwick - Lane, 1704. These
instructions on japanning and painting were then
probably inserted for the use of those house-
wives, for whom, apparently, the work was originally
intended.

The angling instructions contained in these various
books have very little claim to originality. They
appear to me, judging from the description of the
method of fishing with boiled malt, to have been
probably compiled by some bottom - fishing angler
from the works of Walton and Chetham, and from
The True Art of Angling by J. S.

Conyer's piratical theft of The Secrets of Angling
affords an interesting example of the literary frauds,
of which Addison complained in a paper in the
Tatler on ist December 1709: —

The progress of my intended account of what

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 177

happened when Justice visited mortals, is at present
interrupted by the observation and sense of an
injustice against which there is no remedy, even in
a kingdom more happy in the care taken in the
h'berty and property of the subject, than any other
nation upon earth. This iniquity is committed by
a most impregnable set of mortals, men who are
rogues within the law ; ... a set of wretches we
Authors call Pirates, who print any book, poem, or
sermon, as soon as it appears in the world, in a
smaller volume ; and sell it, as all other thieves do
stolen goods, at a cheaper rate.

The angling portion of The Young Sportsman's
Instructor forms more than half the book, the 140
pages of which are made up as follows : —

Angling, pages i to 79 inclusive ; Fowling, pages
80 to 118 inclusive; Hunting, pages 119 to 128
inclusive; Hawking, pages 129 to 136 inclusive; the
remaining pages 137 to 140 dealing with the "cures"
of singing birds, conies, dogs, and hawks.

The portion on stag-hunting is evidently abridged
from Markham's Country Contentments : —

The Young Sportsman^ s Country Contentments^ 6th

Instructor. Edition, 1649.

And in this case you must Now for the manner of his

cast in your Finders, and they hunting ; you shall first cast

having hunted about a Ring or off your Finders, neere his

two, cast in the rest of your place of lodging, & after they

Hounds, cheering them at full have hunted him about a ring

cry with your Horn and Voice, or two, you shall cast in the

and having your sight of the rest of your hounds, and being

game, take notice that you in full cry and maine chase,

may know him from any other, you shall give him comfort

so that if your Dogs chance to both with Home and Voyce,

M

178 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHOHS

follow the wrong Game, you then as soon as you can
may call them back to their possibly, you shall get sight of
default, obliging them to cast the Deere, and take what
about till they have undertaken especiall notts or markes you
the first Game. can from him so that as much

as possible, you may know
him from any other Deere,
then at every default, as soone
as the hounds are in cry
againe, you shall make into
the hunted Deere and viewe
him, and if you find it to be a
fresh Deere, you shall rate the
Dogs and bring them back to
the default, and there make
them cast about againe, until
they have undertaken the first
hunted Deere.

During the early part of the eighteenth century
various poems were published treating more or less
of the art of angling : from amongst these I have
selected the following extracts from Rural Sports.
A Poem inscribed to Mr Pope. By Mr Gay.
Agrestem tenui Musam meditabor Avena. Virg. . . .
London, 17 13. This poem commences: —

You, who the Sweets of Rural Life have known.
Despise th' ungrateful Hurry of the Town ;
'Midst Windsor Groves your easie Hours employ.
And, undisturb'd your self and Muse enjoy.

Now did the Spring her Native Sweets diffuse.
And feed the chearful Plains with wholesome Dews ;
A kindly Warmth th' approaching Sun bestows
And o'er the year a verdant Mantle throws ;
The jocund Fields their gaudiest Liv'ry wear,
And breathe fresh Odours through the wanton Air ;

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 179

The gladsome Birds begin their various Lays,

And fill with Song the blooming Sprays ;

No swelling Inundation hides the Grounds,

But crystal Currents glide within their Bounds ;

The sporting Fish their wonted Haunts forsake,

And in the Rivers wide Excursions take ;

They range with frequent Leaps the shallow Streams,

And their bright Scales reflect the dazzling Beams.

The Fisherman does now his Toils prepare,

And arms himself with every wat'ry Snare,

He meditates new Methods to betray,

Threat'ning destruction to the finny Prey.

When floating Clouds their spongy Fleeces drain.

Troubling the streams with fast descending rain.

And Waters, tumbling down the Mountain's side.

Bear the loose Soil into the swelling Tide ;

Then, soon as Vernal Gales begin to rise,

And drive the liquid Burthen through the Skies,

The Fisher strait his Taper Rod prepares.

And to the Neighb'ring Stream in haste repairs ;

Upon a rising Border of the Brook

He sits him down, and ties the treach'rous Hook ;

A twining Earth-worm he draws on with Care,

With which he neatly hides the pointed Snare.

Now Expectation cheers his eager Thought,

His Bosom glows with Treasures yet uncaught.

Before his Eyes a Banquet seems to stand.

The kind Effects of his industrious Hand.

Into the Stream the twisted Hair he throws,

Which gently down the murm'ring Current flows ;

When, if or Chance or Hunger's pow'rful Sway

Directs a ranging Trout this fatal way,

He greedily sucks in the tortur'd Bait,

And shoots away with the fallacious Meat.

The trembling Rod the joyful Angler eyes,

And strait the Line assures him of the Prize ;

With a quick Hand the nibbled Hook he draws,

And strikes the barbed vSteel within his Jaws ;

The Fish now flounces with the startling Pain,

And, plunging, strives to free himself, in vain :

180 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

Into the thinner Element he's cast,
And on the verdant Margin gasps his Last.
He must not ev'ry Worm promiscuous use,
Judgment will tell the proper Bait to choose ;
The Worm that draws a long immoderate size
The Trout abhors, and the rank Morsel flies ;
And if too small, the naked Fraud's in sight, ^

And Fear forbids, while Hunger does invite.
Their shining Tails when a deep yellow stains.
That Bait will well reward the Fisher's Pains :
Cleanse them from Filth to give a tempting Gloss,
Cherish the sully'd Animals with Moss ;
Where they rejoice, wreathing around in Play
And from their bodies wipe their native Clay.

To frame the little Animal, provide

All the gay Hues that wait on Female Pride,

Let Nature guide thee ; sometimes Golden Wire

The glitt'ring Bellies of the Fly require ;

The Peacock's Plumes thy Tackle must not fail,

Nor the dear Purchase of the Sables Tail.

Each gaudy Bird some slender Tribute brings,

And lends the growing Insect proper Wings :

Silks of all Colours must their Aid impart.

And ev'ry Fur promote the Fisher's Art.

So the gay Lady, with Expensive Care,

Borrows the Pride of Land, of Sea, of Air ;

Furs, Pearls, and Plumes, the Painted thing displays,

Dazzles our Eyes, and easy Hearts betrays.

Mark well the various Seasons of the Year,
How the succeeding Insect Race appear ;
In this revolving Moon one Colour reigns.
Which in the next the fickle Trout disdains.
Oft' have I seen a skilful Angler try
The various colours of the treacherous Fly ;
When he with fruitless Pain hath skim'd the Brook,
And the coy Fish rejects the skipping Hook,
He shakes the Boughs that on the Margin grow,
Which o'er the Stream a waving Forest throw ;

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 181

When, if an Insect falls (his certain Guide),
He gently takes him from the whirling Tide ;
Examines well his Form, with Curious Eyes,
His gaudy Colours, Wings, his horns and Size
Then round his Hook a proper Fur he winds,
And on the Back a speckled Feather binds.
So just the Properties in ev'ry Part
That even Natures Hand revives in Art.
His new-formed Creature on the Water moves,
The roving Trout th' inviting Snare approves.
Upon his Skill successful Sport attends,
The Rod, with the succeeding Burthen, bends ;
The Fishes sail along, and in Surprize
Behold their Fellows drawn into the Skies ;
While soon they rashly seize the deadly Bait,
And Lux'ry draws them to their Fellows' Fate.

In 1720 a second edition of Gay's work was
published, in a slightly altered form, bound up with
some other poems, under the collective title of
Poems on Several Occasions. In the interval between
the two editions the author appears to have given up
worm-fishing, and to have devoted himself exclusively
to angling with the artificial fly, for the following verse
appears for the first time in this edition : —

I never wander where the bord'ring reeds

O'er look the muddy stream, whose tangling weeds

Perplex the fisher ; I, nor chuse to bear

The thievish nightly net, nor barbed spear ;

Nor drain I ponds the golden carp to take,

Nor trowle for pikes, dispeoplers of the lake.

Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine.

No blood of living insect stain my line ;

Let me less cruel cast the feather'd hook,

WMth pliant rod athwart the pebbled brook,

Silent along the mazy margin stray.

And with the fur-wrought fly delude the prey.

182 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

A Discourse of Fish and Fish Ponds. Done by a
Person of Honour, 171 3, was printed, it appears,
from a manuscript in the Bodleian Library, at one
time attributed to Sir Richard Steele. In the
second edition, 171 5, however, the name of the real
author, the Hon. Roger North, appears on the title-
page. This book is concerned with fish-culture and
not with angling, the author's object being to provide
fish for the table and not for sport.

In writing Of the Breeding of Fish, the author
makes an interesting statement concerning the
breeding of eels : —

As for Pike, Perch, Tench, Roach, &c., they are
observ'd to breed in almost any Waters, and very
numerously, only Eels never breed in perfect standing
Waters, and without Springs ; and in such are neither
found, nor increase, but by putting in ; but where
Springs are, they are never wanting, tho' not put in :
And which is most strange of all, no person ever saw
in an Eel the least Token of Propagation, either by
Melt or Spawn in them ; so that whether they breed
at all, and how they are produc'd, are questions
equally mysterious.

North is very sanguine in regard to the profits
attaching to fish culture : —

But we must go further ; Ground shall be vastly
improv'd by Fish, and shall be intrinsically worth,
and yield more this way, than by any other employ-
ment you can give it : For suppose it Meadow of
£2 per Acre (which is an high Value for the best
Meadow far from London) I will justify, that four
Acres in Pond shall return you every year 1000

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 183

Carps fed up from — to 14 or 15 inches, besides Pike,
Pearch, and Tench and other Fry, useful on many
accounts, if the Water suits them. The Carps are
saleable and will bring perhaps I2d., but in all likeli-
hood not less than 9d., yet let it be 6d. apiece, there
is ;^25, which is £6^ 5s. per Acre, a little Charge of
Carriage perhaps to be deducted. This is Improve-
ment enough.

A few years later was published The Whole Art
of Fishing. Being a Collection and Improvement
of all that has been written upon this Subject, with
many new Experiments, 17 14; but I have been un-
able to find in this book any of the new experiments
mentioned.

In the preface the writer admits that it is a collec-
tion from earlier works : —

This treatise is a collection of all that has been
writ upon the Subject of Fishing digested in a better
method than any before extant, and cleansed from
all superfluous and useless observations, for very few
writers on this head have forbore some favourite
Impertinence of their own which they generally stile
Curious.

Next may be considered The Compleat Sportsman^
by Giles Jacob, published in 17 18. In this manual of
sport, angling is regarded as of secondary importance
to the other sports, and is only introduced on the
ground that "the Sportsman cannot be compleat
without a tollerable Knowledge of Angling."

After such an introduction, the reader is not disap-
pointed at finding very little original matter in the

184 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

book. It is, however, a very well-compiled treatise,
and is not a mere verbatim copy of other books.

Walton in the Compleat Angler expresses his dis-
approbation of the trouting methods employed in
that county which is now the home of the highest and
most scientific form of the Art of Angling. Jacob
introduces us to the poaching method of angling,
known as " Cross Lining," which he says is alone
practised in Hampshire : —

In Hampshire they have a Method of Trout-fishing,
no where else practised, but the Largeness of the
Rivers seems to make it necessary : Their Way of
Fishing there in the Month of May, when the Fly-
fishing is at its full height, is thus ; two persons, each
being furnished with a long Rod, go out together;
when they come to the river they propose to fish,
they separate one on one Side of the Water, and
the other on the other side ; then having a strong
Hair-line, in Length twice the Breadth of the River,
one of the Anglers is to fix one end of it to his Rod,
and by fixing a Lead-Plummet to the other End,
throw it over to his Companion, who likewise fastens
that End to his Rod taking off the Plummet ; to this
long Line are fixed two short ones with Hooks, the
Lines not exceeding two or three Yards in Length,
placed about three Parts in four of the Breadth of
the River distant from each other, and at equal
Distance from each Rod : These two Short Lines
thus advantageously fixed, you may at your Pleasure
put over to either Side of the River, so as to com-
mand any Part of it for fishing, or to lan.d your fish
when hung. Bait your Hooks, &c. When you see a
Fish rise, and you have not only put to him but hung
him, carry him down the Stream to a proper
Landing-place, keeping your Line a little upon the

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 185

Strain that the Fish may not have too great Liberty
to intangle himself in the Weeds : but you are not to
keep your Line too much strained when you strike a
large Fish, for fear of its breaking. The Fish being
carried down to a convenient Place for Landing on
either Side of the River, the Angler that receives the
Fish, is to retire regularly with his Rod extended
from the River, and his Companion on the other Side,
is to go to the Water gradually to help over the Fish.
And when the Fish is brought near the Shore, the
Angler on that Side sticks his Rod carefully in the
Ground, and runs to the Water-side and lands his
Fish ; then baits his Hook with a fresh Fly, and they
proceed.

We have already seen that Venables describes a
form of tackle very similar to that to which the name
of " Paternoster " is now given ; in The Compleat
Sportsman this name is assigned to another kind of
tackle : —

The Bleak or fresh Water Sprat, may be taken
either at Mid- Water or the Top, with a Line called a
Paternoster Line (viz.), a Line having six or eight
small Hooks tied to single Hair>Links, and fixed
within half a Foot of each other, and baited with
Gentils, your Line having a Float of Quill.

CHAPTER X

At the end of the first quarter of the eighteenth
century appeared The Compleat Fisherman^ being A
large and particular account of all the several ways
of Fishing now practised in Europe : With abundance
of curious Secrets and Niceties in the Art of Fishing :
as well in the Sea as in Lakes, Meers, Ponds, Rivers,
or Brooks : whether by Darts, Spears, Harpoons,
Nets, Hook and Line, or any other way whatsoever.
More particularly calculated for the Sport of Angling.
Collected from the best Authors and from the long
experience of James Saunders Esqre of Newton
Awbery upon the River Trent. London. Printed
and Sold by W. Brown in Black Horse Alley,
1724.

This book is the first to mention the use of silk-
worm gut. This very valuable angling material is
thus described : —

The Swiss and the Milanese, and the inhabitants
of the more mountainous parts of Italy are esteemed
the greatest Artists at Trout Fishing, perhaps in the
World ; and it is not unlikely it may be occasioned
by the many fine Trout Rivers which they have

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 187

among the Alps. These they tell make a fine and
exceeding strong Hair or Line, resembling a single
Hair which is drawn from the bowels of the Silk
Worms, the glutinous substance of which is such,
that like the Cats Gut which makes strings for the
Viol and Violin, of an unaccountable strength, so
this will be so strong, as nothing of so small a Size
can equal it in Nature ; for it is rather smaller than
the single Hair ordinarily used in Fishing, and strong
as the cat gut itself; so that with these lines they
secure the strongest Fish in those Rivers, where they
have some Trout also very large as well as other Fish.
I have seen an imitation of these Worm Gut Lines
in England, and indifferent strong too, but not like
that I have mentioned in Italy ; yet these will hold
a Fish of a good size too ; if he is not too violent, and
does not too nimbly harness herself among Weeds
and Roots of Trees, where she cannot be pulled out.

The Compleat Fisherman is an original and a
very practical work ; the instructions on fly-fishing,
however, are very scanty.

The following method of poaching, described in
this book, is fortunately now obsolete : —

In Devonshire I have observ'd how they fish with
a Dog, a way I have never met with anywhere else,
but it is in one particular Case, which is thus, they
make Pallisadoes and cross Stakes at the Tail of a
Mill, the cross Pieces are set pointing inwards like a
Mouse Trap to one another, and the Points so close
together, that when the Tide comes up, the Fish slide
insensibly between the Points, but cannot find their
way out again when the Tide ebbs again ; so that
they are left in the Dock of the Mill Tail, where the
Sides being walled or wharft with Stone, and the Mill
shut down at the higher End, the cross Rails standing

188 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

athwart the lower End, and pointing so near to one
another as above, the Fish are left within, in about
a Foot or Foot and a Half of Water only.

When the Tide is thus out, the Fish which are
generally Salmon in the Season, and Salmon Feall
when the Salmon Season is over, are all to be seen ;
then they place a shove Net at the end of a Pole, at
the lower end of the Dock or Mill Tail, and turn in
a Dog, who is bred to the Trade, at the upper End,
and he drives all the Fish into the Net, and so
dextrous are they at their business, that if a Fish
gets into a little Hole or under a Stone, as if it were
unwilling to be driven on to its Ruin, the unlucky
Curs will wrock them out with their Feet.

Saunders relates a story of a countryman in
Somerset, who found a quantity of small fish in a
pool which had been left in a meadow by the sub-
sidence of a recent flood : under the impression that
they were gudgeon, he placed a bucketful of them
into his master's fish pond. It was after some time
discovered, when no fish could be obtained from the
pond, that these supposed young gudgeon were small
pike, who in the intervening time had consumed all
the fish in the pond.

Saunders also describes an elaborate and ingenious
way for catching a trout which lies in the middle of
the stream. A block of water-soaked or weighted
timber is sunk in the middle of the river: in this
block there is previously fixed a dull brass or iron
pulley. The trout soon takes up his position under
the shelter of the piece of wood ; then one day, a long
piece of line having been previously threaded through

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 189

the pulley, a baited hook is attached to the line and
drawn to the fish, who readily and unsuspectingly
takes it, and is then duly played and landed.

The Complete Fisherman was speedily followed
by The Gentleman Angler. Containing Short Plain
and Easy Instructions, whereby the most ignorant
Beginner may, in a little Time become a proficient
Artist in Angling for Salmon, Salmon-Peal, Trout,
&c. ... By a Gentleman, who has made Angling
his diversion for upwards of twenty-eight years.
Printed for A. Bettesworth, 1726, with the appro-
priate motto : —

Si quid novisti rectius istis,
Candidus imperti ; si non, his utere mecum. Hor.
(Ep. i., 6, 68).

The author of this work was probably George
Smith, who compiled a dictionary of angling pub-
lished, under the title of The Angler^ s Magazine^
in 1754.

An interesting preface commences in these modest
terms : —

I may, without vanity affirm, that the following
Treatise upon Angling, is the most perfect and
compleat of any that has hitherto appeared in print.
Other Books are generally so crowded with so many
superfluous and unnecessary Accounts of the value
which Foreigners set upon some kind of Fish, and
with reciting what was the opinion of Antients
concerning them that they seem calculated to please
men of speculation, rather than to instruct a young

190 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

beginner, or to improve him in the Art of Angling.
To this may be added that these abound frequently
with a description of the various Nets, by which Fish
may be taken ; how to lay Night lines ; how to Snare
Fish ; with other clandestine methods, by which they
may be destroyed : But this is downright Poaching,
which has nothing to do with Angling. There is as
much difference between an Angler and a Poacher,
as between the Fair Trader and the Smugler ; and
the Legislature were sensible of this, when they made
the Practice of one Penal, and laid no restraint upon
the other.

Unless the passage quoted below is a libel upon
the anglers of the author's generation, novices in the
art must then have experienced rather a bad
time : —

For most Anglers generally take a Pleasure in
deluding young Beginners, and leading them astray,
by sending them to such places, as are unfrequented
by Fish, and by telling them that such Baits are
proper, when they know the contrary.

The chief part of this book is copied from the
Compleat Angler and other angling works ; there are,
however, a few original passages.

Walton's directions for making an artificial minnow
are given, with the addition of the following mention
of a tin minnow : —

Another sort of Artificial Minnow is made of Tin,
and painted very naturally, which will be of great
service when live minnows cannot be had, and may
be bought at the Fish Tackle shops, but they are
dear.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 191

The passage quoted below appears to be descriptive
of an early form of dry fly-fishing. The dryness of
the fly would, of course, depend upon the vigour with
which the shaking process was performed, and the
efficacy of the method advocated would seem to be
more probably due to the floating of the fly than to
its shadow having been seen by the fish : —

Then shake your Fly twice or thrice over the
Water, that the Shadow of it may be seen before
it touches the water, if you suspect a Trout to be
there ; the best places are in a deep stream, near a.
bush or stump, or the piles of a bridge ; let your fly
drop easy upon the surface of the water, and if there
be a Trout near, he will rise at it eagerly.

The chief places for barbel near London at this
time appear to have been Kingston Bridge and
Shepperton Pool, " at the latter of which places there
is good accommodation for Anglers, a great quantity
of Barbel, and good company all the Summer."

The following extract is complimentary to the
fighting qualities of neither the chub nor the
Portuguese soldier : —

They are cowardly, inasmuch, that if you once
turn them, they are presently dispirited, and you
manage them as you please. For this reason some
waggish, merry Anglers compare them to Portugese
Soldiers, who have very little inclination to fighting
at any time, even tho' the defence of their Country
requires them, and if their enemy make a vigorous
attack, they immediately turn tail, and it is twenty
to one if you can prevail with them, by any means
to face about.

192 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

The Angler's Song to the tune of " A Begging we
will Go," is given, followed by the Laws of Angling,
which include the following rather extreme one : —

No Servant shall be question'd for killing a
Trespasser, within his master's liberty, who will not
yield, if not done out of former malice : yet if the
Trespasser kill any such servant it is murder. 21 E.

The appendix to this book is perhaps its most
interesting portion, as it appears to be the first
treatise written upon rock and sea fishing. In the
introduction the author states that " Rock- Fishing
has a double Advantage, which Angling cannot
pretend to ; it is much pleasanter and more health-
ful." For the rock fisherman is able to protect him-
self from the heat of the sun by sitting under the
canopy of a rock, and he has besides the " Advantage
of the circumambient Air of both Land and Sea."
Stronger tackle must be used in this branch of the
sport ; the line ought at least to have five or six hairs
in every link.

Mt is perhaps unnecessary to state that such a law as this
was never passed. No parliament was sitting in the twenty-first
year of the reign of Elizabeth, so no Acts could then have been
passed. In the fifth year of the reign of Elizabeth, there was
passed, " Cap xxi. An Act for punishing of unlawful taking of
fish, deer, and hawks." The penalty herein enacted for these
offences, was imprisonment for three months, damages to the
person injured, and the finding of sureties " for good bearing "
for the space of seven years. This was undoubtedly the Act
referred to in the Gentleman Angler (See The Angler's Note
Book^ 31st March 1880, p. 97).

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 193

A Float is necessary, and two Hooks; one to
reach to the Bottom, and the other to keep in Mid-
water, and the best Time to follow this Sport is,
when the Tide is half spent, and to be continued
till within two Hours of High-water; the Morning
and Evening are the most preferable Parts of the
Day, provided that the Tide shall then happen to
favour your Design.

The Baits which are used generally in Rock-
fishing are the Cockle, the Lob, and the Marsh
Worms ; but there is another Sort called the Hairy
Worm, which is preferable to all the rest, and is so
universally beloved by all the Fish, that you need use
no other. Hairy Worms, if full grown, are near four
Inches long ; they are flat and broad, and resemble
an Ear-wig, and are to be found on the Sea-shore,
when the Salt-water has left it, especially if the Shore
be partly Sand and partly Mud.

The author warns the angler against a little fish,
called the miller's thumb, or the cobbler, which takes
his hook and then fastens it in the cleft of a rock ; if
this fish is caught, he is rewarded for the performance
of this trick by being set at liberty with a piece of
stick thrust through his eyes.

For rock-fishing the angler requires a strong
jointed rod, a clearing-ring, a landing-net, a gafif,
silks, hooks, lines, wax, etc.

Only four kinds of fish are usually taken by rock-
fishing ; sea-bream, flounders, whiting-pollock, and
rock -whiting : —

The Manner of Sea-fishing as used by Gentlemen
for Recreation and Pastime, is when they are upon
the Sea either in a Boat or Wherry, or else in a Ship.

N

194 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

When in a Boat, or Wherry, they seldom fish for, or
catch, any other than Whiting and Haddock, the
former of these is most frequently taken, the latter
coming by meer Accident.

The whiting are caught on a Paternoster furnished
with half a dozen hooks, baited with hairy-worms ;
no rod is necessary in this form of fishing. It is of
no use to fish for mackerel " except when the Ship
lies by, or is becalmed. A Piece of scarlet Cloth hung
upon a Hook, is the first Bait that is used, and which
never fails of answering the Intent it was designed
for. From hence arose this common Saying, A
Scarlet Coat is a Maycril-Bait for the Ladies. When
you have taken a Maycril, cut a thin Piece off from
the Tail, a little above the Fin, and place it upon
your Hook."

To the perusal of those Thames fishermen who

endeavour to restock the Thames with trout and

salmon, and at the same time strictly preserve the

pike, I would commend the following extract from a

poem " Of Fish," forming part of a book of poems

first published in Latin by Jacob Vaniere, 1730, and

afterwards translated into English by John Buncombe

of C. C. C. Cantab. : —

Tho' the rich Pike, to entertain your Guest,
Smokes on the board and decks a royal Feast ;
Yet must you not this cruel Savage place
In the same Ponds that lodge the finny Race :
In the same Tow'r you might as well unite,
The fearful Pigeons and the rav'nous Kite ;
In the same yard the Fox with Chickens keep,
Or place the hungry Wolf with harmless Sheep.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 195

The writer of this poem seems to have anticipated
the ingenious theory, enunciated by Sir Edward
Grey in his charming book on fly-fishing. In
describing the efforts of the carp to escape from the
nets of the fishermen Buncombe, translating Vaniere,
writes : —

Now motionless she lies beneath the flood,
Holds by a weed, or sinks into the mud.

With Sir Edward Grey's theory, that a trout, when
hooked, plunges among the weeds and seizes them in
its mouth, in order to resist capture, I cannot agree.
The fact that a hooked trout instinctively rushes for
the shelter of the weeds, with its mouth pulled open
by the tension exerted by the angler's line, fully
accounts for weeds being occasionally found in its
mouth after its capture, especially when the incurved
shape of a trout's teeth is taken into consideration.

CHAPTER XI

In The Art of Angling, with the Natural History of
River, Pond, and Sea- Fish, illustrated with 133 Cutts,
London, 1740, the name of the author, R. Brookes,
does not appear on the title-page, but is appended to
the Letter of Dedication.

In dealing with the natural history of the fish, the
author acknowledges, in the preface, his indebtedness
to Willoughby's Historia Pisciuvi.

" As to the Drawings I have little to say, because
they were all, except one or two, done by myself: I
can only assure the Reader, that the Shape and
Proportion of the Fish are carefully preserved, and
that the Original Prints were done immediately
from the Life." After viewing the illustrations, it
is somewhat difficult to believe this last assertion ;
the whale for instance is depicted, wearing a com-
placent smile, with one man standing near his
nose, playing the bagpipes, and another man stand-
ing near his tail, hacking away at his back with an
axe.

" In the Angling Part I had the Assistance of Mr

196

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 197

Chetwood, who is allow'd by all to have great Skill in
that innocent Diversion." In reference to this
passage Messrs Satchell and Westwood state in the
Bibliotheca Piscatoiia^ " Thus disingenuously giving
his thanks to Chetham, passages of whose Vade-
Mecum are copied textually." This statement is
absolutely incorrect : the Mr Chetwood referred to is
evidently not Chetham, the author of The Anglei-s
Vade-Mecuin ; and that work is not copied from,
textually or otherwise.

This book must have been a very popular one, as
it ran through more than fourteen editions ; it is
almost more a work on ichthyology than on angling,
and its popularity was possibly due to the number of
interesting stories which it contains concerning the
habits of both river and sea fish. As a practical
angling book, though it is not to be compared with
Howlett's Sure Guide ^ it nevertheless contains a
considerable amount of original information.

Brookes is, I think, the first author to mention
the prawn as a bait for salmon. After describ-
ing the mode of using a raw cockle as a salmon
bait, he refers as follows to the method of using a
prawn : —

The same Day a Brother- Angler caught a Salmon
with a Prawn, without so much as using a single Shot
to his Line ; instead of that he drew his Bait gently
over the Hole on the Verge of the Shallow, and at
the same time kept out of sight.

Judging from the following passage the floating fly

198 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

appears to have been more generally used at this time
than the sunk fly : —

It is the usual Practice to Angle for a Trout with a
Fly on the top of the Water, and yet the largest are
taken by letting it sink five or six Inches under it.

The trout in those days does not appear to have
been so highly educated as at the present time : —

You need not be very cautious in the choice of
your Flies, for a trout is not difficult, nor very curious
about the Season, for I have Angled successfully with
an artificial May-Fly in August.

In dealing with the perch, Brookes is the first
writer to describe the use of the disgorger : —

As the Pearch generally swallows the Bait, and
as it is difficult to get the Hook out of his Entrails
without breaking the Line, it will be necessary to
carry an Instrument in your Pocket which I call a
Gorge. It may be made of Iron or Wood, about six
Inches long and half an Inch thick, with a Hollow at
the Extremity. This hollow End you are to thrust
down the Throat of the Fish 'till you feel the Hook,
at the same time keeping your Line straight lest the
Hook should catch again ; when you have disengaged
it with this Instrument, you may draw them both out
carefully together.

On the strength of a statement in his Booke of
Fishing, Leonard Mascall is here credited with
having been the first to introduce the carp into
England : —

Some Authors of note have affirm'd that Carp
have been often found in Ponds wherein they were

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 199

never known to be put : But in England we have
not been so lucky as to find it true, for there were
none of this kind of Fish in all the Island before they
were brought into it by Leonard Mascall, about a
hundred and sixty years ago, as he himself tells us
in his Treatise of Fishing.

Green peas are recommended as a bait for carp : —

But I lately discover'd a green Pea to be a Bait
inferior to none, if not the best of all ; and that I
may never be at a loss for one, I cause a sufficient
quantity to be half boil'd, and cover'd with melted
Butter.

Brookes describes the "rud" and the "red eye"
as two different fish ; they are of course now recog-
nised as the same fish, the rudd, or red - eye
{Leuciscus erythrophthahnus).

In referring to the prevailing ignorance of the
method of generation of the eel, Brookes states
that he was "assur'd by a Fisherman of Mortlack,
that he had seen Spawn in the Belly of one sticking
to the Outside of the Guts two or three times, and
that it was like the Spawn of the Barbel, and about
the Size of a common Marble; which, if true, it is
very surprising that it should have escap'd the
diligent Enquiries of all Writers, ancient and modern.
However, he is now living, and ready to make
affidavit of the Truth of the Assertion."

Eighty-six varieties of sea-fish, including whales,
turtles, crabs, lobsters, cockles, etc., are. illustrated and
described, and the book concludes with an interesting

200 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

" Account of the Navigation of the River Thames,
and the Locks that are built thereon " : —

After what has been said of the Rivers of England,
perhaps the inquisitive Reader will not be displeased,
to know in what Manner Barges of a large Burden
are navigated into the very Heart of the Kingdom ;
especially since it is an Invention so useful to the
Publick : For by this Means Tradesmen and Farmers
are enabled to send their Goods to an advantageous
Market, and at the same time the most populous
Cities are supplied with Necessaries of all Sorts at
a moderate Price. To explain this we need only
mention the River Thames, which is navigable up-
wards of 140 Miles above London-Bridge.

It is very obvious to all, that the principle Obstruc-
tion to the Navigation of most Rivers is the Want
of Water, especially in the Summer-time, when the
Springs are low. Now, in order to remedy this In-
convenience, the Use of Locks was happily invented,
which are a kind of Wooden Machine placed quite
across the River, and so contrived as totally to
obstruct the Current of the Stream, and dam up the
Water as long as it shall be thought convenient.

By this Artifice the River is compelled to rise to
a proper Height, that is, till there is Depth enough
for the Barge to pass over the Shallows ; which done,
the confined Waters are set at liberty, and the loaded
Vessel continues its Voyage till another Shoal
requires the same Contrivance, and again retards
its course. But though this Method is extremely
convenient, it is attended with great Charge ; for
they are obliged to pay, in one Voyage, upwards
of Fourteen Pounds ; I mean, if they go through all
the Locks in their Passage to or from London. This
extraordinary Expense is chiefly owing to the Locks
being the Property of private Persons, who raise a
large annual Income therefrom ; which may be

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 201

readily estimated, if we consider that 300 Barges pass
and repass at least six Times in a Year : And yet,
which is still more surprising, the charge of the Locks
is not above one Third of the Expence of a single
Voyage.

But that the Reader may have a clearer Notion
of this Matter, I shall subjoin a List of all the Locks
on the River Thames, with their Distance from each
other, and the Price the Barges are obliged to pay :
And herein it must be noted, that tho' between
Lechlade and Oxford there are few or no Locks,
yet in Summer, when the Water is low, they pay
what is here set down for Flashes only.

From the list given it appears that Sutton, for
which a charge of ;^i, 15s. was made, was the most
expensive lock on the river.

The above extracts were all taken from the first
edition of Brookes' Art of Angling. The subsequent
editions were considerably enlarged, and particulars
were added of record catches and large fish.

In the fourth edition a perfumer, by name Warren,
is said to have caught in Walton Deeps, on 23rd
August 1 77 1, 280 lbs. of barbel before noon, when he
stopped, overcome with fatigue. On another occa-
sion the same fisherman caught 83 chub, the smallest
2 lbs. and the largest 6 lbs. in weight, in one morning.
Mr Warren used to ground bait over night with
worms, and use a perfumed hook bait the next
morning, a form of " cross-baiting " which is strongly
condemned nowadays.

Two pike are said to have been taken at spawning
time from a ditch near Wallingford, the male fish

202 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

weighing 51 lbs. and the female 57, lbs. These fish
still hold the Thames record, and are likely to do
so — a record which I am afraid most anglers will
regard with incredulity. The next largest Thames
pike recorded is the one mentioned in Daniel's
Rural Sports ; this fish must have weighed when
first taken from the water about 41 lbs. It was
caught by a Mr Bishop, of Godstow, " between Weir
(Kings Weir ?) and Whytham Brook." " It was
4 feet 2 inches long, 2 feet 10 in girth, and after
being disgorged of a Barbel nearly six, and a Chub
upwards of three pounds, weighed thirty-one pounds
and a half" Dr Plot in the second edition of The
Natural History of Oxfordshire, 1705, states the
result of two days' netting to show the number of
pike and coarse fish in the Thames in former times : —

Yet in the Year 1674, it gave so ample Testimony
of its great Plenty, that in two Days appointed for
the Fishing of Mr Mayor and the Bayliffs of the City,
it afforded betwixt Swithin's-Wear, and Woolvercot-
bridge (which I guess may be about three Miles
Distant) 3000 Jacks, beside other Fish.

To return to Brookes' Art of Angling. As an
illustration of the voracity of the Pike, this book
records the disappointment experienced by a cer-
tain Mr Lee, who on drawing a pond, which he
had some time previously stocked, found a solitary
" large lean Pike, which had devoured all the store
Fish, and had in his Stomach, a Water- Wag Tail and
a young Throstle."

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 203

The British Angler, by John Williamson, Gent,
published in 1740, affords one of the most disgraceful
examples of plagiarism which can be found even in
angling literature. In spite of this the author has
the impudence to state in his preface : —

As I had resolved therefore to give the Public a
new Treatise on this Subject, which I knew was very
much wanted, and not likely, as I could hear, to be
undertaken by any abler Hand, it was my Business
to consider what Methods I should take to avoid the
Imputation so generally thrown on others, and
compose a Work that should have in fact what it
promised, an Air of Novelty.

The works chiefly stolen from are those of Walton
and Chetham. Whole chapters are taken verbatim,
except for the alteration of a word here and there,
from the latter author, and of course without the
slightest acknowledgment. I append a passage
from Chetham's Vade-Mecum^ and another from the
British Angler to illustrate the extent of the
alteration made in the latter work : —

Next follow Ointments and Receipts, which I have
read and been informed of, by several Anglers, and
are practised for the better furtherance of this Sport ;
and some have such confidence, that they affirm
they'll not only allure, but even compel Fish to bite.
Part of the following Receipts I have Experienced,
and though I found them in some measure advan-
tageous to my Recreation, yet far from so high a
degree, as has been pretended to me : &c. (Chetham's
Vade-Mecuni).

As to Ointments and Unguents, many ingenious

204 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

Anglers esteem them so, for the effectual Furtherance
of this Sport, that they affirm they will not only
allure but even compel Fish to bite. For my own
Part, I honestly confess, that though I have found
them in some measure advantageous to my Recreation,
yet far from so high a Degree, as has been pretended,
&c. {British Angler).

With similar alterations the first six chapters of
Chetham's book form the first six chapters of
Williamson's. Portions of the Coinpleat Angler are
stolen in a similar wholesale manner.

The Art of Preserving Health: A Poem. In four
books. Published in 1744; 2nd edition, 1745. By
John Armstrong, M.D., is generally included in lists
of angling books, but the following extract from Book
III., "On Exercise," is the only reference to angling
which it contains : —

But if the breathless chase o'er hill and dale

Exceed your strength ; a sport of less fatigue,

Not less delightful, the prolific stream

Affords. The crystal rivulet, that o'er

A strong channel rolls its rapid maze,

Swarms with the silver fry. Such, thro' the bounds

Of pastoral Stafford, runs the brawling Trent ;

Such Eden, sprung from Cambrian mountains ; such

The Esk o'erhung with woods ; and such the stream

On whose Arcadian banks I first drew air,

Liddal ; till now, except in Doric lays

Tun'd to her murmurs by her love-sick swains,

Unknown in song : Tho' not a purer stream,

Thro' meads more flow'ry, or more romantic groves,

Rolls toward the Western main. Hail sacred flood !

May still thy hospitable swains be blest

In rural innocence ; thy mountains still

Teem with the fleecy race ; thy homeful woods

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 205

For ever flourish ; and thy vales look gay

With painted meadows, and the golden grain !

Oft, with thy blooming song when life was new.

Sportive and petulant, and charm'd with toys.

In thy transparent eddies have I laved :

Oft tried with patient steps thy fairy banks,

With the well-imitated fly to hook

The eager trout, and with the slender line

And yielding rod soUicite to the shore

The struggling panting prey ; while vernal clouds

And tepid gales obscur'd the rufiled pool.

And from the deeps call'd forth the wanton swarms.

CHAPTER XII

To the title-page of The Art of Angling improved
in all its parts, especially Fly-Fishing. By Richard
Bovvlker. Worcester, Printed by M. Oliver in High
St., no date is afifixed, but in the copy in the
Bodleian Library, the date 1747 is written on the
title-page, and this date is inserted, in brackets, in
the library Catalogue.

With the exception of the two passages quoted
below, the fly-fishing portion is the only part of the
book of much interest.

After rejecting the notion that eels are bred by the
action of the Sun's rays on the dew, which falls in
May and June by the river's side, or that they breed
" out of the Corruption of their own Age," the author
gives the following observation to prove that eels are
viviparous : —

Being acquainted with an elderly woman who had
been wife to a miller near fifty years, and much
employ'd in the dressing of Eels, 1 ask'd her if she
had ever found any Spawn or Eggs in those Eels

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 207

she had open'd, and she said, she had never observ'd
any, but that she sometimes found living Eels
in them about the Bigness of a small Needle,
and particularly that she once took out ten or
twelve and put them on the Table and found
them to be alive, which was confirm'd to me by
the rest of the Family : the Time of Year when
this happen'd was (as they inform'd me) about
a fortnight or three weeks after Michaelmas, which
makes me of Opinion that they go down to the
Sea or Salt- Water to prepare themselves for the
work of propagation, and producing their Young.
To this I must add another Observation of the same
Nature that was made by a Gentleman of Fortune
not far from Ludlow and in the Commission of the
Peace for the County of Salop. Who going to visit
a Gentleman his Friend, was shown a very fine large
Eel that was going to be dress'd, about whose Sides
and Belly he observ'd a Parcell of little creeping
Things, which at first made him suspect it had been
kept too long, but upon nearer inspection they were
found to be perfect little Eels or Elvers. Upon this
it was immediately open'd in the sight of several
other Gentlemen, and in the Belly of it they found
a Lump about as big as a Nutmeg consisting of an
infinite Number of those little Creatures closely
wrapt up together, which being put into a Basin of
Water, they soon separated themselves and swam
about the Basin : This he has often told to several
Gentlemen of Credit, in his Neighbourhood, from
some of whom I first receiv'd this Account, but I
have lately had the Satisfaction of having it from
his own Mouth; and therefore I think this may
serve to put the matter out of all doubt, and may
be sufficient to prove that Eels are of the Viviparous
kind.

These supposed little eels or elvers were of course

208 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

parasitic worms, which are now known to frequently
exist in the serous cavities and in the intestines of
eels.

The following story is to be found quoted in many
angling books to show the voracity of the pike : —

My Father catcht a Pike in Barn Meer (a large
standing Water in Cheshire) was an Ell long, and
weigh'd thirty-five pounds, which he brought to Lord
Cholmondley ; His Lordship ordered it to be turn'd
into a Canal in the Garden, wherein were abundance
of several Sorts of Fish; about 12 months after his
Lordship draw'd the Canal and found that this over-
grown Pike had devour'd all the Fish, except one
large Carp that weighed between nine and ten
Pounds, and that was bitten in several places ; the
Pike was then put into the Canal again together
with abundance of Fish with him to feed upon, all
'which he devoured in less than a Year's time, and
was observ'd by the Gardiner and Workmen there
to take the Ducks and other Water-Fowl under
Water ; whereupon they shot Magpies and Crows
and throw'd them into the Canal, which the Pike
took before their Eyes ; of this they acquainted
their Lord, who thereupon order'd the Slaughter-
man to fling Calf's-bellies, Chickens-guts, and such
like Garbage to him to prey upon, but being soon
after neglected he dyed, as suppos'd from want of
Food.

The art of fly-fishing is very briefly dealt with in
this book, but the natural history of the flies and the
methods of imitating them are more fully described
than in any preceding work, and several new flies are
also mentioned for the first time.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

209

Two lists of flies are given : —
Of the several Sorts of Flies, and their Seasons.

I.

The Red Fly.

IS-

Grey Drake.

2.

Blue Dun Fly.

16.

Orl Fly.

3-

Brown Fly.

17.

Sky-coloured Blue.

4-

Cowdung Fly.

18.

Cadis Fly.

5.

Stone Fly.

19.

Fern Fly.

6.

Granam Fly.

20.

Red Spinner.

7-

Spider or Gravel Fly.

21.

Blue Gnat.

8.

Black Gnat.

22.

Large Red Ant.

9-

Black Caterpillar or

23-

Large Black Ant.

Hawthorn Fly.

24.

Welshman's Button.

10.

Iron-blue Fly.

25.

Little Red Ant.

II.

Sally Fly.

26.

Little Black Ant.

12.

Canon or Down-hill

27.

Little Whirling Blue.

Fly.

28.

Little Pale Blue.

13-

Shorn Fly.

29.

Willow Fly.

14.

Green Drake.

These are all very tempting and certain Flyes which
the Angler may depend upon for Sport and which I
shall presently describe in their Seasons. There are
many other Flies taken Notice of in Treatises of
Angling which may possibly be of use in some
Rivers, the principal of which I shall just mention
for the Curiosity of my Brother Anglers, but I never
think it worth while to make any of them Artificially.

I. The Dun Fly.

II. Prime Dun Fly.

2. Ruddy Fly.

12. Black May Palmer

3. Black Fly.

Worm.

4. Sandy-yellow Fly.

13. Calmet Fly.

5. Moorish Fly.

14. Oak Fly.

6. Twine Fly.

15. Owl Fly.

7. Wasp Fly.

16. Brown Gnat.

8. Shell Fly.

17. Green Flesh Fly.

9. Dark Drake Fly.

18. Harry Long Legs.

10. Dark Brown Fly.

19. Badger Fly.

o

210 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

It is now the general opinion that trout are in the
best condition during and immediately after the May-
fly season. Bowlker considered that they were best
before they had gorged themselves with that fly, as
it made their bellies thin and their flesh flabby.

Bowlker fully describes in turn each of the flies
included in his list of most useful flies. I append
below his description of the blue dun, the granam,
and the red spinner : —

The Blue Dun Fly comes down in the beginning
of March, and will kill Fish in the forenoon till the
middle of April : He is made of a Blue Duck's
Feather or Starling's wing with a blue Cock's hackle,
the Dubbing yellow Mohair mixed with the blue
Furr of a Fox : As he swims down the Water, his
Wings stand upright on his Back : His tail is forked,
and of the colour of his Wing : He comes down
about ten o'clock and continues till twelve in great
quantities : He is always thick on the Water in
Cloudy, Gloomy Days.

The Granam Fly, or Green Tail comes down about
a Week in April, if the Weather be mild ; they
appear upon the Water in great quantities in Bright
Mornings ; but in cold stormy Days there are few
of them to be seen : Then is the time to use the
Brown Fly. This Granam Fly is a tender Fly and
not able to endure the Cold. The time of its con-
tinuance on the Water is not above a Week or ten
Days. This fly is made of a Feather out of the
Wings of a Pheasant, which is full of fine Shades as
the Wing of the Fly is, which lye flat on his Back
as he swims down the water: His Body is made of
the black part of Hare's Furr, with a Peacock's
harl over it, and the grizzled Hackle of a Cock
wrap'd twice round under the butt of the Wings.

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 211

Some frequently make this Fly with a Green Tail,
which I could never find to be of any Service. The
Green Tail Fly is the female, which as soon as it
lights on the Water looses its Tail. I take this to
be the Egg of the Fly, for I have caught two of them
which have been tyed together which I put into a
Box for 24 Hours, and upon opening the Box I
found they were parted, and that one of 'em had a
small lump of Green at its Tail about the biggness
of a Pin's head: This I kept 12 Hours longer, when
the Green part came from it like an Egg, which
induces me to think that this is the Female Fly,
and I presume that most other Flyes breed after
the same Manner.

The Red Spinner comes down the beginning of
July, and continues till the middle of the same
Month : He is to be fish'd with only in the Evenings
of very hot Days. His Wings are made of a Grey
Drake's Feather lightly ting'd with a yellow Gloss :
His Body is made of Gold Twist, with a red hackle
over it.

It is evident that Bowlker was not merely an
angler, but also a keen and observant naturalist. He
relates the following interesting observations on the
life history of the May-fly : —

It has been an opinion generally receiv'd among
my Brother Anglers that the May Fly proceeds from
the Cod-bait but I find by experience that this is
a very great mistake. For the Cod-bait produces a
very different Fly, call'd the Cadis or Cod-bait Fly,
which I shall presently have occasion to describe :
And I have lately had an opportunity of convincing
some Gentlemen very curious in the Art, who were
of that opinion till they had the satisfaction of seeing
the Cadis Flyes produced from Cod-baits, which I

212 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

sent for that purpose about the time of their change.
The May Fly while in Embrio, is inclos'd in a longer
and much smaller Husk, which is sharp and pointed
at one end like a Cock's Spur.

Since I entered upon this Work, the following
ingenious account of this Fly has been communicated
to me by a Gentleman who is a very accurate observer
upon nature's productions, which as it may be a
matter of Curiosity and Entertainment to some of
my Readers I shall here give them as briefly and
as near his own Words as I can. I happen'd to Walk
by the River side, at that Season of the Year, when
the May Flyes (he means the Grey sort) which are
a species of the Libella, come up out of the Water,
where they lie in their husks for a considerable time
at the Bottom or Sides of the River, near the likeness
of the Nymph of the small common Libella : but
when it splits open its Case, and then with great
Agility up springs the new little Animal with a
slender Body, four blackish Vein'd transparent Wings,
with four black Spots upon the Upper Wings, and
the under Wings much smaller than the upper ones,
with three long Hairs in its Tail. The Husks which
are left behind float innumerably upon the Water. It
seemed to be a Species of Ephemeron, and I imagined
it was the same Insect describ'd by Goodhart and
Swammerdam, but a few Days convinc'd me to the
contrary ; for I soon found them to be of longer
duration than theirs. The first business of this
creature (after he is disengaged from the Water) is
flying about to find a proper place to fix on (as
Trees, Bushes, &c.), to wait for another surprising
change which is effected in two or three Days. The
first hint I receiv'd of this wonderful Operation was,
seeing their Exuvia; hanging on a Hedge ; I then
collected a great many and put them in Boxes, and
by strictly observing them I could tell when they
were ready to put off" their Cloaths, tho' put so lately

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 213

on. I had the pleasure to shew my Friends one that
I held on my Finger during the time it perform'd
this great work. It was surprising to see how easily
the back part of the Fly split open and produced the
new Birth, which I could not perceive to partake of
anything from its Parent, but leaves Head, Body,
Wings, Legs, and even its three hair'd Tail behind
on the Case. After it has reposed itself a while it
Flyes with great briskness to seek its Mate. In the
new Fly a remarkable difference is seen in their
Sexes, which I could not so easily perceive in their
first State, the Male and Female being then much
of a size, but now the Male was much the smallest,
and the Hairs in his Tail much the longest. I was
very careful to see if I could find them engendering,
but all that I could discover was that the Males
separated and kept under the cover of the Trees,
remote from the River. Hither the Females resorted
and mixed with them in their flight (great Numbers
together) with a very brisk motion of darting or
striking at one another when they met with great
Vigour, just as House Flyes do in a Sunny Room :
This they continued to do for many Hours, and this
seem'd to be their way of Coition, which must be
quick and soon perform'd as they are of so short
duration. When the Females were impregnated,
they left the Company of the Males and sought the
River, and kept constantly playing up and down on
the Water ; it was very plainly seen every time
they darted down they Ejected a Cluster of Eggs,
which seemed a pale bluish Speck, like a small drop
of Milk, as they descended on the Water ; then by
the help of their Tail they spring up again, and
descend again ; thus continuing till they have
exhausted their stock of Eggs, and spent their
Strength, being so weak that they can rise no more
but fall a prey to the Fish, but by far the greatest
numbers perish on the Waters, which are cover'd

214 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

with them. This is the end of the Females, but
the Males never resort to the River, as I could per-
ceive, but after they have done their Office, drop
down, languish and die under the Trees, and Bushes.
I observ'd that the Females were most nurnerous,
which was very necessary, considering the many
enemies they have, during the short time of their
appearance ; for Birds and Fish are very fond of
them, and no doubt under the Water they are a
food for small Aquatick Insects. What is further
remarkable in this surprising Creature is, that in a
life of a few Days, it eats nothing, seems to have
no apparatus for that purpose, but brings up with
it out of the Water sufficient support to enable it
to shed its Skin, and perform the principle end of
life with great Vivacity. The particular time when
I observ'd them very numerous and sportive, was
on the 26th of May, at 6 o'Clock in the Evening.
It was a sight very surprising and entertaining too,
the Rivers teeming with innumerable pretty nimble
flying Insects, and almost every thing near cover'd
with them : When I looked up into the Air it was
full of them, as high as I could discern, and being so
thick and always in motion, they made almost such
an Appearance as when one looks up and sees the
Snow coming down ; and yet this wonderful Appear-
ance, in three or four Days after the last of May,
totally disappear'd.

The Goodhart referred to above is probably
Gaedaert, who appended to his Historical Obsen>a-
tions a " particular narration " on the May-fly by a
writer with the appropriate name of D. de Mey.
Swammerdam was the author of Ephemeri Vita ; or
the natural history and anatomy of the Ephemeron,
a fly that lives but five hours. This book was pub-

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 215

lished in " Low-Dutch," by Jo. Swammerdam, M.D.,
of Amsterdam, in 1675, and was translated into Eng-
lish by a friend of Dr Tyson in 1681.

This monograph on the May-fly consists of 44
quarto pages, and 8 plates, illustrating the fly and the
larva, are inserted at the end of the work. With the
exception of the description of the method of genera-
tion of the flies and the duration of their existence,
the account given is interesting, exhaustive, and for
the most part accurate.

Swammerdam confesses that he does not know how
long it is before the larva hatches out of the egg, but
suggests that by keeping some of the eggs " in a
vessel with water and clay, some knowledge thereof
might be obtained " ; Mr Halford, who has conducted
this experiment, found that the eggs hatched out in a
little less than ten weeks. The larvae belong to the
class known as digging larvse, and as soon as they
are hatched they bury themselves in the bed of the
river; it is not known for certain how long they
remain in the larval condition, but it is certainly two,
and possibly three years. Swammerdam states that
they remain three years in this stage of their
existence, that a larva one-year-old is f of a Holland
inch in length, a two-year-old is i§ inch long, the
wing cases having then appeared, a three-year-old
larva is 2| Holland inches in length, and the wing
cases are more plainly seen.

It is interesting to compare Mr Halford's account
of the metamorphosis of the nymph (a larva is called

216 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

a nymph when the rudiments of the wings have
appeared) into the sub-imago, with that given by
Bowlker. When this change is ready to take place,
the nymph " swims upwards through the water, and,
if it has calculated its movements accurately, arrives
at the surface just before the metamorphosis. Its
entire body is inflated, and the external integument
distended, until at length it splits along the back of
the thorax. First the thorax, then the head, is pushed
out through this slit in the outer skin. Then the legs
are disengaged, and next, just before the abdomen
and setae are quite free, the wings, one at a time, are
withdrawn from their covers and quickly unfolded.
The winged insect supports itself on the cast nymphal
skin or on the water until its wings are dry, and then
flies ashore to seek the friendly shelter of grass, rushes,
sedges, or even trees " {Dry Fly Entomology^ Halford,
1897).

In the sub-imago stage, the fly is enveloped in a
thin membrane or skin, which has to be cast off
before it becomes a perfect or fully developed fly —
the imago. The metamorphosis from the sub-imago
to the imago is effected by casting off the skin by a
process very similar to that by which the larva casts
off its shuck, when changing to the sub-imago.

The fly is now known to live longer than its
formerly allotted span of five hours. Mr Halford has
kept them alive for five or six days.

In 1774, a second edition of Bowlker's Art of
Angling appeared, edited by Charles Bowlker, the

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 217

son of Richard Bowlker, under the title of The Art of
Anglings and Conipleat Fly-Fisher.

According to the Bibliotheca Pzscatoria, Charles
Bowlker died at Ludlow on 31st December 1779;
" he was considered the most finished fly-fisher of his
day."

The second edition of this work is certainly not as
interesting as the first ; it contains no new original
matter, but a collection of " Miscellaneous Secrets,"
collected from other works, together with the " Laws
of Angling," is inserted at the end of the book.
Richard's statement in proof of the theory of the
viviparous generation of eels, his observations to show
that the May-fly does not come from the cod-bait,
and his account of the Barn Meer pike are all
omitted.

Other editions of this book appeared in 1780, 1786,
1788, 1792, 1820, etc.

To the earlier editions of The Complete Angler^ by
Mr T. Fairfax, no date is afiixed ; the Bibliotheca
Piscatoria assigns to the first edition a date about
1760. The copy, however, from which the following
extracts were taken, cannot have been issued before
1 77 1, for it contains an advertisement of a poem,
The Debauchee^ which was published in that year.

This book is almost entirely a compilation from far
earlier works, so that the exact date of its publication
is not of much importance.

The following " Choice Receipt," " never before
made publick," tends to show that fishermen and carp

218 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

are differently affected by the indulgence in too much
alcohol over-night : —

Over-night mix bean-flower with a little honey, wet
it with rectify'd spirits of wine, and a little oil of
turpentine, make it up into little pellets, and such
fish as nibble it, when thrown in, will be stupified, so
that in the morning coming to themselves a little,
they will bite very eagerly, as being after their
drunken fit, exceeding hungry.

Among A Collection of Scarce^ Curious^ and
Valuable Pieces, collected by W. Ruddiman, from
" the fugitive Productions of the most eminent Wits
of the present Age," and published by him in 1773,
there is included " The Art of Angling in Eight
Dialogues," written in verse.

Ruddiman apologetically attributes the appearance
of the book in verse, instead of in prose, solely to the
vanity of the author, whose expression seemed " to
savour so of vanity, that I thereupon left him to enjoy
his self-sufficiency."

The preface concludes with the statement that no
expense has been spared in the preparation of the
work, and that a set of notes has been added by
sundry learned and ingenious men, retained in the
constant pay of the bookseller. Among these learned
paid retainers Moses Browne again appears.

Neither the verses nor the notes are of sufficient
interest or merit to deserve further notice.

Appended, somewhat suggestively, to this poem on
The Art of Angling \^ " An Introduction to the Art of

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 219

Lying . . . being A Work universally useful and
entertaining to all Persons, in all Degrees and
Stations of Life, of what Denomination soever."

Ever since Pliny described the esox "as a river
fish, which attained the weight of a thousand pounds,"
Esox lucius has been the fish most favoured
in angling romance. The following extract from
The Field is a good example of a modern pike
story.

A tame duck was seen to disappear from the
surface of Lough Sheelan ; forthwith a barrel, armed
with a spoon-bait and two Phantom spinners, was set
adrift on the lake. " The fish took the spoon, battled
with the barrel for an hour and twenty minutes, and
was then landed." The pike weighed 53 lbs. 11 oz.,
and measured 4 feet 5f inches in length, and 29 J
inches in maximum girth {The Fields 7th
September 1901). The substitution of a barrel, with
which the gigantic pike battles for an hour and
twenty minutes, in place of the large circular cork,
usually attached to trimmers, affords to this story a
charming sense of proportion.

In 1 801, according to Mr Haslewood {Censura
Literarid), the following " good pike story " appeared
in a newspaper : —

A party angling at Sunbury, one of them sat across
the head of the Boat, as a punishment inflicted on
him for wearing his Spurs. Another having caught a
Gudgeon, stuck it on one of the Spurs, which he not
perceiving, in about a few minutes a large Jack bit at

220 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

the Gudgeon, and the Spur being crane-necked,
entangled in the gills of the Jack, which, in attempt-
ing to extricate itself, actually pulled the unfortunate
person out of the Boat. He was with difficulty
dragged on Shore, and the Fish taken, which was of a
prodigious Size.

It is, perhaps, hardly to be wondered at, that the
author of this treatise on The Art of Lying should
have chosen a pike story to help illustrate one of the
forms of lying : —

My next general rule is the Recitative : A rule of
singular use to an unfertile invention ; it requires no
great skill to become master of it, and extends only
to the marvellous. It is of great use to coffee-house
politicians, and news mongers in general, and chiefly
depends upon enumeration : it is indeed a sort of
branch to the ambiguous. ... I have known it
practised with success by a friend of mine frequently,
who has laughed, and been heartily laughed at, for
the fruitfulness of his imagination. If you tell a story
which happened in one county, he immediately
repeats the same, with a trifling variation, that
happened in another. If you carry it to the possible,
he extends it to the probable ; if you sink it to the
improbable, he lowers it to the impossible ; in short
it is the art of refining epitomised. Example : One
said he saw a pike in a small pond in Kent, weighing
40 pounds, and that one of 30 pounds was taken out
of its belly. My friend immediately replied, That
was nothing ; he had seen in Wiltshire one of 50
pounds weight, and a pike of 40 pounds taken out of
its belly ; and not only that, says he, but another
entire pike was taken out of the belly of it, which
weighed 27 pounds and a half This was between
the probable and possible. The gentleman, finding
himself outdone, replied. It was strange, but yet he

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 221

had heard something beyond that ; he had a friend
of his in Northamptonshire, who stopped at a little
public house, and called for a bottle of ale ; it was set
on the table, and, being ripe, forced out the cork,
which went through the ceiling and roof of the house,
and hit a small bird which was that instant flying
along ; the bird dropped perpendicularly down into
the bottle, the cork followed plump into the neck
again, stopped the bottle and drowned the bird. My
friend very gravely replied, that was nothing ; for he
had heard his father say, that, by such an accident in
Wiltshire^ he caught a covey of partridges, consisting
of eight brace and a half of birds, and at one blow,
with this addition only, that it was a two quart bottle
they fell into, &c.

The Art of Lying is certainly not among the lost
anglers' arts. We still meet with frequent examples
of the " recitative " lie. I have generally noticed that
the probability of these lies varies in an inverse ratio
to the distance of the scene of their alleged occurrence
from the place of their narration.

I am told that Tarpon-fishing lends itself with
peculiar facility to the exercise of this Art. I am,
however, unacquainted with any Tarpon anglers, and
am therefore unable personally to vouch for their
skill with the Long Bow. The " tallest " stories
which I have heard have come from Norway.

The A ngler^s Museum ; or^ the Whole A rt of Float
and Fly Fishing. By Thomas Shirley, is another
unoriginal work. It appears to have been chiefly
compiled from Bowlker's Art of Angling. The
frontispiece is a portrait of the famous fisher-

222 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

man, John Kirby, and the date, 1784, appears on
this frontispiece, but to the title-page no date is
affixed.

The following advice, which is given in this book
to young anglers, was probably the result of personal
experiment, and was doubtless only too readily
followed by old as well as young anglers : —

If at any time you happen to be overheated with
walking, or other exercise, avoid small liquors,
especially water, as you would poison ; but rather
take a glass of rum or brandy, the instantaneous
effects whereof, in cooling the body, and quenching
drought are amazing.

A Concise Treatise on the Art of Angling. . . . Ey
Thomas Best, Gent. Late of his Majesty's Drawing
Room in the Tower, London, appeared in 1787.
Thirteen editions of this work were published; to
the tenth and eleventh editions the greater part of
Nobbes' Coinpleat Troller was added.

This book, though it contains nothing strikingly
original, is a thoroughly practical treatise on the
art of angling ; in the preface the author honestly
admits that he has added "compilations from the
best authors who have written on that subject," and
that the list of flies in the second part he was
indebted "to the ingenious Mr Cotton for, the best
fly-fisher that ever was. nor do I believe that there
will ever be another nee simile aut secundum. His
flies, with some little deviation, I have been equally
successful with as well in southern as northern rivers ;

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 223

and therefore they may be truly deemed, the standard

for artificial Fly-Fishing."

I have always considered that live baiting for pike

was a pot-hunting and unsportsmanlike method of

fishing. I was therefore pleased to find that Best

apparently shared this view : —

I shall now ' communicate to the reader, a method
which I have taken more pikes and Jacks with, than
any other way. The hook which you must use, is to
be the first hook that I have mentioned, with this
exception only, that the lead of a conical figure must
be taken away, then before you fix the swivel on the
bottom of the line, put on a cork-float that will swim
a gudgeon, then put on your swivel, and fix your
hook and gimp to it : put a swan shot on your gimp,
to make your float cock a little, and of such a weight,
that when the hook is baited with the gudgeon it
may do so properly. Your gudgeons must be kept
alive in a tin kettle : take one, and stick the hook
either through his upper lip, or back fin, and throw
him into the likely haunts before mentioned,
swimming at mid-water. When the pike takes it,
let him run a little, as at the snap, and then strike
him. In this method of pike fishing, you may take
three kinds of fish, viz. pikes, pearch and chubs. It
is so murdering a way that the generous angler
should never use it, except he wants a few fish to
present his friends with.

The second part of the book has a separate title-
page, The Compleat Fly-Fisher ; or. Every Man His
Own Fly Maker. . . .

In the introductory chapter to this second part the
author writes : —

Because the same flies differ very much both in

224 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

colour and size in different counties : therefore I
would advise him to pursue a plan, that he will
find very agreeable and pleasant, and very much
increase his pastime ; which is to make a selec-
tion of the natural flies he means to imitate,
for artificial fly fishing, in the different counties
he angles in, and put them into a glass case for
preservation ; by which means, he will always
be able to suit the fly for the water he fishes
in ; and likewise let him take the exact
time, that each fly kills best in, as the same
will be taken much sooner, or later, on one
river, than another; nay, even the fly which was
taken on its peculiar water one year in April,
will perhaps not be on the next, till the middle of
May : according to the backwardness or forwardness
of the season.

I believe that this is the first angling treatise to
refer to the use of the multiplying winch : " Your fly
line should be about thirty yards long, and wound on
a small brass multiplying winch which is to be placed
on the butt of your rod." From the way in which
the winch is referred to, without any description, it
is probable that it had then been in use for some
time and was not a new and unknown form of tackle :
in this connection the following note from Mr
Marston's book, Walton and the Earlier Fishing
Writers, is of interest. In the note referred to, Mr
Marston states that he is able "to correct an
American angling writer, Mr A. Nelson Cheney, who,
in one of his pleasant angling notes, in Forest and
Stream, January 1893, claims that the multiplier reel
was invented in America about the year 1820. In

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 225

this 1807 edition of Daniel's Rural Sports^ not the
first edition of the work, there is a fine engraving of
a brass multiplying reel. I have no doubt multiplying
reels were in use much earlier than this. In 1770
Onesimus Ustonson advertised that he sold ' the best
sort of multiplying brass winches, both stop and
plain.' "

In the second chapter of this part there is: "A
List of the Materials necessary for an Angler to have,
and the best Method to make the Palmer and May
fly," with a very full description of both.

In the third chapter the necessary dressing for the
different flies is described, and in many cases a note,
in italics, is added, stating the relative killing powers
of the different flies, and also at what time of the
day they are best taken. For instance the blue dun,
in March, is said to be " a great killer, and is taken
from eight to eleven and from one to three." The
black May-fly is " A good killer, but not to be
compared with the Green Drake, or Stone Fly."
The grey drake is " A very killing fly, especially
towards an evening, when the fish are glutted with
the green drake."

Nowadays a floating dry fly is found to be best
adapted to slow-running or still waters, and the
wet fly to rapid, broken streams. Best seems to
recommend a contrary practice : —

When you angle in slow running rivers, or still
places with an artificial fly, cast it across the water,

P

226 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS

and let it sink a little in the water, and then draw it
gently over to you again, letting the current carry it
slowly down ; this is the best way for slow waters,
but for quick ones, your fly must always swim on the
top, under the continual inspection of your eyes,
which ought for this kind of angling to be as sharp
as the basilisk's.

Best concludes his book with some interesting
notes on the Thames : —

But let me return to the Thames, of which, and
the rivers, that fall into it, I shall treat somewhat
particularly, as they are more the seat for the
diversion of angling than any others. The higher an
angler goes up the Thames, if within about forty
miles, the more sport, and the greater variety of fish
he will meet with ; but as few Londoners go so far
from home, I shall mention the best places for
Thames angling from London Bridge to Chelsea.

If the air is cold and raw, the wind high, the water
rough, or if the weather is wet, it is totally useless to
angle in the Thames.

The best places for pitching a boat for angling in
the Thames, are about one hundred and fifty yards
from York Stairs ; the Savoy, Somerset- House,
Dorset Stairs, Black-Friars Stairs ; the Dung-Warf
near Water-Lane, Trig Stairs and Essex Stairs. On
Surrey side. Falcon Stairs ; Barge Houses ; Cuper's
vulgo Cupids Stairs ; the Windmill and Lambeth.

At and about Windsor is a vast variety of all sorts
of fish ; but if a man be found angling in another's
water, (without leave) he is fined very high by the
court of that town, if he only catches a single
gudgeon, &c.

Uxbridge-river, excellent for its large and fat
trouts ; but as the water is rented, not only leave
must be obtained to angle in it ; but you must pay

ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 227

so much a pound for what you kill. Denham, near
Uxbridge, is a very famous place.

This is the last angling work of any importance
published in the eighteenth century, and with it we
pass from the realm of the ancient angling authors.

Finis.

INDEX

Addison on literary frauds, 176
^Ifric the Abbot, his Colloquy^

I
Aelian on artificial flies, x
Aviuseine7tts of Clergymen^ 146
Anderson, Sir Edmund, Taver-
ner's Experiments dedi-
cated to, 32
Angler, qualities necessary to

an, 55, 65, 70
Anglers, father of, 78
Angler's Delight^ 125, 154
Angler's Magazijie^ 189
Angler's Museum^ 221
Afigler^s Note Book referred to,

I
Angler's Sure Guide ^ 24
described by W. White, 157
cited, 170
Angler's Vade-Meciivi^ 12 j
copied in Tke True Art of
Anglings 152
Angle-twitch (earthworm), 19
Angling, laws of, 192
Aristotle on the origin of eels,

36
Armstrong, J., on angling, 204
Artificial flies, mentioned by
Aelian, x
list from the Treatyse, 21
list of, by Markham, 65
suitable grounds for, 84
directions for tying, 87, 115
Art of Ambling, by T. Barker,

78
Art of Anglings by R. Brookes,

196
Art of Angling Improved^ 206 ;
second edition, 216

Aspray, oil of, 68
Assafoetida as a lure, 19, 68

Bacon, fat of, as bait, 17, 18

Bait-fishers, A. Lang's opinion
of, 100

Bait for sea-fishing, 193

Baits, ground, mentioned by
Mascall, 29

Barbel, unwholesome as food, 17
bait for, 18

confused with grayling, 68
said by Markham to take a

fly, 71

great catch of, 201
Barker, T., his Art of Anglin<^,

78
father of poachers, 79
his birthplace, 80
Barker's Delight j or, the Art

of Anglifig, 89
Barnes, Dame Juliana, Treatyse

of Ffysshynge, 7
Bean-flour, 67
Bee, young, 18

Berners, Dame Juliana, Trea-
tyse of Ffysshy?tge, 7
Best, T., his Concise Treatise on

the Art of Angling, 222
Bickerdyke, John, on Game

Fish, 117
Blaine on the generation of

eels, 37
Blaine's Rural Sports quoted,

no («.)
Black-fly, 66
Black " Louper," an artificial

fly, 21
Black-palmer fly, 84

230

INDEX

Bleak, bait for, 19

mentioned by Dennys, 53, 54
Blome, R., his Gentleman^ s

Recreation^ 143
copied by J. Smith, 153
Blood, used to make bait

attractive, 20
as bait, 50, 67
Blood-worms as bait, 53
Bob, 17

Bobbing for eels, 29
Booke of Fishing with Hookc

and Line, by L. Mascall, 23
Boom for carp-fishing, 166
" Bottlin," 92
Bowlker, C, editor of the Art

of Angling, 216
Bowlker, R., his Art of A7igling

Improved, iQ(i ; second

edition, 216
Bow-net, 40
Boyle, Sir C, on bait for pike,

Bracmeal in Shropshire, the
birthplace of T. Barker, 80
Brandling, 89
Bread, brown, as bait, 18
Bream, bait for, 39
Bream-fishing, 166
Brewer's grains as ground-bait,

Bristle whipped to hook as

check, 130
Britannia^s Pastorals, by W.

Brown, 60
British Angler, 203
Brookes, R., his Art of Angling,

196
Brown, W., his Britannia^s

Pastorals, 60
Browne, M., his editions of

Walton, 93
Browne, Moses, on angling, 218
Bumble-bee, 18
Burbot, restocking with, 28
Burgoin, Sir R., 147
Burning the water, viii, no

Burton's Anatomy quoted, ix
" Bushing " for trout, 76

Caddis-fly, 209, 211
Cairncross, D., on the origin of

eels, 37
Cane rod preferred by Venables,

114
Canker as bait, 17
Carp, rare in England when the
Treaty se was written, 18
alleged introduction of, into

England, 24
first record of teeth in throat

of, 32
bait for, 39
Dennys' directions for taking,

51
fishmg for, 143
advice on, 152
great take of, 157
killed by toads, 165
holding to weeds, 195
Casting down-stream, 83
Casting-nets, 31
Casts of catgut, Indian-grass,

and hair, 159
Catches, record, 201, 202
Catgut lines, 119, 159
Cat's fat, 67
Censura Liter aria, by Hasle-

wood, 219
Certaine experiments concerning
fish andfruite, by J. Taver-
ner, 31
Charr, Welsh, or Torgoch,

mentioned, 119
Cheap and Good Husbandry, 68,

69
Cheese as bait, 18, 67
Cheney, A. N., an American

angler, 224
Cherries as bait, 67
Chetham, J., on the merits of
tar, 100
his Angler's Vade - Mecum,
127

INDEX

231

Chetham, J., copied by J. Smith,
152
plagiarised by Williamson,
203
Chetwood, Mr, assisted R.

Brookes, 197
Chub, baits for, 18
Dennys' directions for taking,

52.
cowardice of, 191

Claudius Aelian on artificial
flies, X

Clearing-ring-, earliest mention
of, 47, 48

Clergymen^ Amusefnents of, 1^6

Cloudy dark-fly, 66

Coarse fish, Walton an author-
ity on, 95

Cobbler, or miller's thumb, 193

Cockchafer, 18

Cockle as bait, 197

Coculus Indie, 68

Cod-bait, 75, 115, 211
affixed to hook of fly, 1 30

Cod- worm, 17, 18, 19

Codling, mention of, 4

Colour of lines, 136

Complect Angler, by Walton, 94
value, 96

Cornpleat Fisher, 150

Compliat Fisherman, 1 86

Coi7tpUat Husbandman, 1 70,
171

Compleat Sportsman, 183, 185

Comfleat Troller, 131

Complete Angler, by T. Fair-
fax, 217

Concise Treatise on the Art of
Angling, 222

Conger, mention of, 4

Conyers, G., publisher of angling
books, 154

Cotton, C, his Instructions how
to Angle in a Clear Stream,
97, 120

Country Contentments, by G.
Markham, 177

Cow-dung worm, 17

Cox, N., his Gentlemaiis

Recreation, Ii8
Cricket, 18
Cross-lining, 184
Crows, Mascall's method of

taking, 27

Dace, bait for, 19
will not breed in ponds, 40
Dennys' directions for taking,

51
Da vies. Secrets of Angling

attributed to him, 43
Davors, J., Secrets of Angling

attributed to him, 43
Dead gorge, 135
Denison, Mr, his manuscript of

the Treaty se of Ffysshynge,

8
Dennys, J., his Secrets of Ang-
ling, 43
Dennys' Secrets of Angling,

edited by W. Lawson, 73,

74
Dialogues of Creatures Mor-

alysed, 5
Diaper, W., his translation of

Oppian, viii
Dibbing for chub described by

Dennys, 52
Discourse of Fish and Fishing,

182
Disgorger, use of, 198
Dog used in poaching, 187
Donne, Secrets of Angling 2XXx\-

buted to him, 43, 158
"Doping," 85
Double hooks first mentioned,

117
Drable, upon the, 127
Drag-nets, 31, 141
Drake-fly, 21, 209
Dress suitable for angling, 48
Drop-net described by Mascall,

30
Dry-fly fishing, 91, 191, 198

232

INDEX

Dubbe, an artificial fly, 1 6, 17 Fish - culture, notice of, 25,

Vaniere's poem " Of Fish,"

194
Duncutte, an artificial fly, 21
Dun-fly, 21, 65, 66, 209, 210
Dytiscus roeselii^ the progenitor

of eels, 37

Eel, bait for, 19

migration of, described by

Taveraer, 36, 38
Walton on the propagation
of the, loi
Eel pout described as a river
fish, 2
restocking with, 2, 28
Eels, able to travel overland,

38
bobbing and sniggling for,

29
breeding of, 182, 199, 206
Egyptian fishing, vii, viii
Enemies of fish mentioned by

Mascall, 26
Estienne's Agriculture cited,

25,30
Expenendd Angler^ 11 1

Fairfax, T., his Complete

Angler^ 217
Faintly Jewel, 176
Faulkner, an angler, 108
Fence-months for fish, 102
Fennel recommended for scour-
ing worms, 55
Fish, unseasonable, 4

mutilation of, for identifica-
tion, 4, 6
Mascall on preservation of, 26
on enemies of, 26
on handling, 32
breeding of, 35, 182
that rise best at a fly, 1 14
to take, in the hands, 153
sea, described by Brookes,
199

I»2

Fishing requisites in Dennys'

time, 48
Flesh-fly, 17

Flies, artificial, list from the
Treaty se, 2.1
list of, by Markham, 65
directions for tying, 71, 87,

88, 172
several, used on one line,

164
proper, for each month, 1 7 1
list of, 209
Float, early representation of, 6
mention of, 17
for pike, 19
self-cocking, 160
steadying, 161
luminous, 166
Floats, Dennys' directions for
making, 47
Lawson's dislike of, 74
Floud, R., his eulogy of Wal-
ton, 95
Fly, floating or dry, 157, 191
Fly-fishing for trout described

by Lawson, 75
Fly-rod, description of, 159
Fournival, R. de, on fishing, xi
Frampton, Dr J., his Three
Dialogues on the Amuse-
?ne?its of Clergymen, 146
France, angling laws in, 30
Franck, R., his Northern Me-
moirs, 104
his attacks on Walton, 105,
106
Frogs as bait, 18, 19
Fulham, Piers of, on fishing, 3

Gaedaert cited by Bowlker,

212, 214
Gaff", earliest mention of, 85

or landing-hook, 91
Gardiner, l3r S., his Booke of
Angling or Fishing, 42

INDEX

233

Garments suitable for angling,
48

" Gase," a net for minnows,
described by Mascall, 30

Gay, J., his Rural Sports^ 178
Poems ^ 181

Genteel Recreation^ by J. Whit-
ney, 155

Gentle affixed to hook of fly,
130

Gentles as bait, 53

Gentleman Angler^ 189

Gentleman^ s Recreation^ by N.
Cox, 118, 143
copied by J. Smith, 153

Gesner cited on spontaneous
generation, 32

Gilbert, W., his Aiigler's De-
light, 125, 154

Gilbert, his Method of Fish-
ing in Hackney River ^ 152,

153
Gilpin, W., 146
Glow-worm used to make float

luminous, 166
"Goodhart," an author cited

by Bowlker, 212, 213
Googe, B., his translation of

Heresbach's Husbaitdry, 69
Gordius mistaken for young

eels, 37
Gorge, dead, 135, 136
Grains, brewers', for ground-
bait, 169, 170
Granam-fly, 210
Grasshopper, 18, 53
Grassi on the generation of the

eel, 38
Grayling, bait for, 17
flies proper for, 65
confused with barbel, 68
Green-drake fly, 1 22, 209
Grey, Sir E., on fly-fishing, 195
Grey-drake fly, 123
Green-tail fly, 210
Ground-baiting, 169

described by Dennys, 53, 54

Ground-baiting with worms, 119
Ground - baits mentioned by

Mascall, 29, 30
Ground-rod, description of, 159
Gudgeon, mention of, 4

bait for, 19

Dennys' directions for taking,

.50
easiest fish for a beginner to
take, 50
Gurnard, mention of, 4
Gut, silkworm, first mentioned,
186

H., R., his School of Recreation^

142
Hackney River^ Gilbert's Method

of Fishing in, 152, 153
Hair-worms mistaken for young

eels, 37
Halford, F. M., on the breeding

of may-flies, 215, 216
Hands, directions for taking fish '

with the, 152
Hafiover Magazine, Mr Jacoby

in, on trout-breeding, 33
Harborne, J., Secrets of Ang-
ling dedicated to, 45
Harting, J. E., his edition of

Walton, 97
Hartshorne's Ancient Metrical

Tales, 3
Haslewood, J., on the Book of

St Albans, 7
his Censura Liter aria, 2ig
Hawkins, Sir J., his editions of

Walton, 97
Hawthorn-fly, 84

worm, 18
Helmont on the origin of eels,

37
Heresbach, his work on HuS'

bandry, 69
Heron, method of catching the,

26
Herring as bait, 19
Hippourus described, x

234

INDEX

Historia Piscium^ Willoughby's,

196
Hog's-wool for artificial flies, 84
Honey, 67
Hooks, to be bought, 47

made of steel, 49

shape of, 75

double, described by Ven-
ables, 117
Hornet, 18
Hornet-worm, 18
House-fly as bait, 18
Howlett, R., presumed author of
School of Recreation^ 142

his Sure Guide described, 157
HusbandmaTis Jewel^ 1 70

Impediments to the angler, 16
Indian grass for lines, 159
Ineeba, or seven eyes, 17
Innocent Epicure; or^ the Art

of Anglings 154
Instructions how to Angle for

a Trout or Grayling i7i a

Clear Strea^n^ 97, 120
Ivy, oil of, referred to by

Dennys, 59
recommended as a lure, 76

Jacob, Mr, on breeding trout in
standing water, 33

Jacob, G., his Compleat Sports-
man^ 183

Jacoby on the eel, loi
on the origin of eels, 37

Jarchi, Rabbi S., reputed author
of The Compleat Fisher^

151
Johnson, Dr, commends the

Compleat Angler^ 97
Julius Pollux on fishing lines,

Kelt, Franck's description of

a, 108
Kinking of wire lines, 160

Kippis, Dr A., on authorship
of the Treatyse, 9

Kirkby, John, his portrait men-
tioned, 222

Lamprey, mention of, 4, 17
Landing-hook mentioned, 91
Landing - net mentioned by
Dennys, 48, 58
again mentioned, 140, 169
improved, 145
Lang, A., on bait-fishers, 100
Laws of AngHng, 192
Laws of Angling in France,

Mascall on, 30
Lawson, W., on existence of
throat teeth in carp, etc.,
32
edits Dennys' Secrets of Ang-
ling, 73, 74
"Lea and Dove" edition of

Walton, 97
Lead used in pike-fishing, 19
Leger - tackle, use described,

127
Legering, a method of, 164
Leistering, viii, no
Leuciscus erythropthalmus, 199
Lines, Dennys' instructions for
making, 47
Barker's remarks on, 83
colour of, 136
preservation of, 136
drying, 136

made of silk and silver, 136
sinks for, 160

directions for selecting, 168
of silk and hair, 49, 155
of wire, 160
Lip berries as bait, 53
Liquors, good and bad, 222
Live-baiting for pike, 223
Lluelyn, M., his Men-Miracles,

with other Poems, 103
Loach, method of taking, 29
Lobworms, chopped, as ground-
bait, 85

INDEX

235

Locks on the Thames, charges

at, 200
" Louper," black, 2 1
Luce, mention of, 4, 6

a four-year-old pike, 164
Lute-string for lines, 119, 159
Lying, the Art of, 218, 219

Mackerel-fishing, 194
Maggots, 18, 19

early method of scouring, 20
Marrow, or beef-pith, as bait,

109
Marston, R. B., on Walton, 85
his edition of Walton, 97
his Walton and the Earlier
Fishing Writers^ 224
Markham, Gervase, his Plea-
sures of Princes^ 61
his English Husbandman^ 62
undertaking to write no more

veterinary books, 62
his edition of Heresbach's

Husbandry^ 69
his Country Contentments, 177
Mascall, L., his Booke of fishing
with Hooke and Line, 23
his Treatise on Limming,

.24
his work on the removal of

stains from silk, 24
said to have introduced carp,

. 198, 199
copied by Walton, 99
Maure-fly, 21
Men - Miracles of Dr M.

Lluelyn, 103
Merman described by Cox, 118
Merril, an angler, 108
Metrical Tales, fishing de-
scribed in, 3
May-fly, 75, 84, 114, 115, 210,

211, 215
Mey, J. de, on the may-fly, 214
Mice as bait, 18

Miller's thumb a danger to
anglers, 193

Minnow as bait, 17, 19, 82

made of tin, 190
Minnows, bait for, 19

drop-net for, 30
Mondini and Miiller on the

ovaries of the eel, 38
Moorish-fly, 66, 209
" Mother of Eels," 37
Miiller and Mondini on the

ovaries of the eel, 38
Multiplying winch, 224, 225
Mundella Act cited, 102

Needle for baiting, 136, 138

Net, landing, 169

Net, or "gase," for minnows
described by Mascall, 30

Netting stigmatised, 76

Nets, for fishing, 31, 48, 58
Mascall's enumeration of, 28
landing and cast, 145

Nicolas, Sir Harris, his edition
of Walton, 97

Night-hooking stigmatised, 76

Nobbes, R., his Compleat Trai-
ler, 131
father of trollers, 78, 131

North, Roger, a writer on pisci-
culture, cited, 32

North, Hon. R,, his Discourse
on Fish and Fishing, 182

Northern Memoirs, 104

Nowel, Dr, 148

Oak-fly, 84

Ointment mentioned by Dennys,

its composition, 76
Ointments to allure fish, 128,

203
Oppian, his Halieuticks, viii
on the breeding of eels, 36
Otter weel, 26
Owldham, Isaac, cited, 105, 108

Palmers as artificial flies, 84
Paste, for bait, 40, 53
for bottom-fishing, 67

236

INDEX

''Paternoster," an early form
of, ii6
mentioned, 185, 194
Peas, green, as bait, 199
Pepys, S., describes use of

catgut for lines, 119
Perch, Dennys' direction for

taking, 53
Perch-fishing, 198
Pickerel, 40

a two-year-old pike, 164
Piers of Fulham, on fishing, 3
Pies, Mascall's method of

taking, 27
Pike, mention of, 4
bait for, 19

rapid growth of, 34, 133
Dennys' directions for taking,

53
angling for, described by M.

Brown, 60
unsportsmanlike method of

taking, 87
names for, according to age,

164
record, 201, 202, 219, 220
voracity of, 202, 208
live-baiting for, 223
Pliny, on fish, viii

on the breeding of eels, 36
Pleasures of Princes^ by Mark-
ham, 61, 69, 70
Plumb, mention of,
Plummet mentioned by Dennys,

58
Poachers, father of, 79
Poaching deprecated in the
Treaty se^ 21
by Mascall, 28
with dog, 187
Polypody, 67, 68
Ponds, Taverner's description

of, 32
Portuguese soldiers, alleged

cowardice of, 191
Pouch-hook, 136
Prawn as bait, 197

Profit and Pleasure United^ 142,

150
Pucklechurch, the birthplace (?)

of Dennys, 43

Rabbit's fat as bait, 67
Raking, to induce iDiting in

gudgeon, 49, 50
Rathke on the ovaries of the

eel, 38
Red-eye, 199
Red-fly, 65, 66, 209
Red-palmer, 84
Red-snail, 17, 18
Red-spinner, 211
Red- worm, 17, 18, 19, 40
Rhodes, H., presumed author

of School of Recreatio7i^ 142
Rings first fitted to rods, 162
Riverside Natural History

quoted, 37
Roach, mention of, 4

Dennys' directions for taking,

as bait, 19

their breeding in ponds, 40
fishing, unsportsmanlike

method of, 166
Rock-fishing, 192

fish taken in, 193
Rod, of many pieces, described
by Markham, 63
top joint of, 81
length of, 86, 90
ring for trolling, 86
holding spike for, 161
Rods, relative merit of cane and
hazel, 46, 114
stain for, 64
jointed, ^^
to be purchased, 70
furnished with running rings,
162
Roe, salmon, as bait, 79, 92,

109, no
Rudd, in ponds, 40
mentioned, 199

INDEX

237

Ruddiman, W., Art of An^lif7(^,

218
Ruff, bait for, 19
Ru7'al sports^ by Gay, 178

St Albans, Book of 7

" Salarmoniache," an ingredient

of ground-bait, 29
Salmon, taken in the sea, 2
mention of, 4
bait for, 17

roe of, as bait, 79, 92, no
Barker's directions for taking

90
fishing for, Walton on, 100
feeding of, 161

not to be given to appren-
tices more than three
days in a week, 106
Salmo perisii^ 119
Sancassini on the ovaries of the

eel, 38
Satchell, T., his reprint of the
Treaty se of Ffysshynge, 8
his reprint of Mascall's Booke

of Fishing, 25
and Westwood's Bibliotheca
Piscaforia, xiii, 197
Saunders, J., his Compleat

Fisherman, 186
" Scallion onions," an ingredient

of ground-bait, 29
School of Recreation, 142
Scott, Sir W., on Northerri

Memoirs, 109, no
Scouring worms, 82
Secrets of Angling, by C. G.,

175
Sea-fishing, 192
Sea-fish described by Brookes,

199
Seasons recommended by

Dennys, 57
Secrets of Angling, by John

Dennys, 43
edited by W. Lawson, 73, 74
ascribed to Dr Donne, 158

Sesame, an ingredient of ground-
bait, 30
Seven-eyes, 17
Shallow or rudd, 40
Shaw on the generation of eels,

38
Sheep's suet, 67
Shell-fly, 21, 66, 209
Shirley, T., his Angler's

Museum, ii\
Shottrel a one-year-old pike,

164
Shuttlecock, the game of, 149
Silkworm, 17, 18

gut of, first-mentioned, 186
Skeat, Rev. W., on The Oldest
English Treatise on Fish-
ing, I
Slugs, black, slit, as bait, 55
Smith, G., his Angler's
Magazine, 189
probably author of Gentleman
Angler, 189
Smith, J., his Profit and
Pleasure united^ 142, 149
his True Art of Angling,
afterwards The Compleat
Fisher, 149 ; printed by
J. Sprint, 151
Snagging pike, 79
Snaring pike, 79
"Snatching" pike, 87
Sniggling for eels, 29
Spawn, Mascall's method of
preserving, 27
destruction of, by ducks, eels,
and perch, 35
Spawning, observations on, 35
Spike fitted to rod, 161
Spinal cord of ox as bait,

109
Spinning with a minnow, 82
Spinning for trout, 99
Spontaneous generation of fish,

Mascall derides, 32
Sprint, J., printer of The True
Art of A?tgling, 151

238

INDEX

Stain for darkening rods, 64
Steel, Sir R., work on fishing

attributed to, 182
Stephanus (Estienne), a French

writer copied by Mascall,

25,30

StilHngfleet, Bishop, 147

Stomach, examination of con-
tents of fishes', to determine
bait, 20, 116, 129

Stone-fly, 17, 18, 21, 65, 66, 114,
115, 123,209

Stop-nets, 31

Sturgeon, mention of, 4

Suet, sheep's, 67

Swammerdam cited by Bowlker,
212
his Ephemeri Vita^ i\Af^ 215

Swimming the worm, 123

Swivel, use of, 82, 83

Tandy-fly, 21

Tar as a lure, 100, loi

used in worm-fishing, 156
Tarpon-fishing, 221
Tate, N., editor of Innoce?it

Epicure^ 154
Taverner's Certaine experiments
concerning fish and fruife,

31
Tawny-fly, 66
Teeth in throat of carp, etc.,

32
Tench, mention of, 6
bait for, 18, 40
said to be attracted by tar,

100
method of taking, 166
Thames, navigation of, 200

on fishing in the, 226
The Way to get Wealth, 69
Thorpe, his Analecta Anglo-

Saxonica cited, 2
Three Dialogues on the Ainuse-

ments of Clergy 7ne?t^ 146
Toads said to kill carp,
165

Tools necessary to an angler,

58
Torgoch first mentioned, 119
Trace to be made of hair and

silk, 82
Trailing, first mention of, 139
Treaty se of Ffysshynge with an

Angle, 7
Trimmer described by Barker,

86, 87
Trimmering pike, 79
Trollers, father of, 78
Trotters' Vacation, 135
Trolling, rod for, 86
for pike, 86

first monograph on, 131
leads for, 164
Trout, bait for, 17

impossibility of breeding, in

standing water, 33
transportation of live, 41
Dennys' directions for taking,

52
flies proper for, 65
Barker's directions for taking,

89
spinning for, 99
on night-fishing for, 130
record captures, 163
rapid growth of, 163
worming for, 163
to take, in midstream, 188
True Art of Angling, 149, 154
Turberville, G., ballad on fish-
ing pubHshed by, 174
Turpentine, Venus, 67

Umber confused with the

barbel, 68
Universal Angler, 120
Up-stream worming, 123
Ustonson, O., his multiplying

winch, 225

Vaniere, J., his poem, "Of
Fish," 194

INDEX

239

Veal, fat of, an ingredient of

ground-bait, 29
Venables' Experienced Angler^

III
Venus turpentine, 67

Walton cited on spontaneous
generation, 32

Walton and the Earlier Fishing
Writers^ 85

Walton, I., his commendation
of Venables' Experienced
Angler^ 113

Walton Deeps, barbel at, 201

Walton's Compleat Angler^ 93

Wasp-fly, 21, 66

Wasp-grubs as bait, 51, 53

Water-fly or may-fly, 75

Water-rat, to destroy the, 26

Wax, virgin, 67

Weather suitable for angling,
57,58

Whalebone recommended for
tops, 159

Wheat, simmered, as bait for
roach and dace, 20
as bait, 169

Wheat-flour, 67

"Wheele" or winch mentioned,
86

Whip or spring trap, 25

White, N., compiler of a list of
fishing books, 157

Whiting, rock, and whiting-
pollock, 193, 194

Whitney, J , his Genteel Recrea-
tion^ 155

Whole Art of Fishing, 183
Whole Art of Husbandry^ 69
Williamson, J., quoted by M.

Browne, 99
Williamson, J., his British

Angler^ 203
Willoughby's Historia Piscium^

196
Winch, earliest mention of, 85

multiplying, 224, 225
Winckhurst, the fish pond at,

.157
"Wind" or winch mentioned,

86
Wind, Barker's indifference to

direction of, 81
Winder, earliest mention of, 47

Barker's description of, 90
Wire for lines, 160
Wolwich roach, 4
Worming, up-stream, 123
Worms, to be scoured in moss,

51
directions for scouring, 82
for ground-bait, 119
method of scouring, 1 56

Yarrell on eels travelling

overland, 38
Yellow-fly, 21, 66
York, Edmund, Duke of, 8
Young Sportsfuan^s Instructor^

71
its author unknown, 72
cited, 153, 154,158, 175, 177
Young Angler's Instructor^

source of, 175

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