Charles

HISTORICAL SKETCHES

OF THE

ANGLING LITERATURE

ALL NATIONS.

BY ROBERT BLAKEY,

)\

AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF MIND, &c. &c.

TO WHICH IS ADDED

of Wnglitf) OTltiters on Angling*

LONDON:
JOHN EUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUAEE.

MDCCCLVI.

TUCKER & CO., PRINTERS, PERRY'S PLACE, OXFORD STREET

PREFACE.

I HAVE published these miscellaneous materials re-
specting Pish and Fishing, from a desire to place in every
Angler's hand something like a general historical sketch
of the " gentle art/' and of the sayings and doings about
it, for many bygone centuries. I conceive it will prove
of interest to all true Piscatorians. Whatever imper-
fections, either of commission or omission, which the
volume may display* will, I trust, receive some degree of
critical indulgence from the fact that this is the first
attempt, as far as my knowledge extends, of any thing of
the kind in any language whatever.

I beg to mention that, for the Bibliography of Angling
Literature, at the end of my volume, I am indebted to the
indefatigable Publisher.

July, 1855.

.1911

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

On the Angling Literature of the Ancients, and on Matters
connected with Fish in general, from the earliest times
to the Christian Era 1

CHAPTER II.

On Angling Literature, from the Christian Era to the Re-
vival of Letters in Europe, and the Institution of the
Art of Printing 30

CHAPTER III.

On the Religious Veneration of, and Superstitious Sacredness

connected with, Fish and Fishing . . . .45

CHAPTER IV.

On the Various Opinions on the Virtues and Effects of Fish
as Articles of Food ; and, likewise, on their Medicinal
Qualities and Virtues ....... 66

CHAPTER V.

Angling Literature from the Revival of Letters, and the
Establishment of the Art of Printing to the Commence-
ment of the Eighteenth Century . . . .92

CHAPTER VI.

Angling Literature connected with Heraldry, Architecture,

Ancient Coins, &c. &c. ...... 130

VI

CHAPTEE VII. PAG,E
Angling Literature in connection with Astrology, Necro-
mancy, the Drama — Loves of the Fish — Fairy Tales —
Fascination — Dreams — Omens — Epigrams — Charades,
Conundrums, Valentines — Tales of Eemarkable Fish,
&c. &c. &c 134

CHAPTER VIII.

Angling Literature of the Eighteenth Century . . . 173

CHAPTER IX.

A Brief Notice of some Literary Effusions on the Inhumanity

and Folly of Angling, as an Art .... 186

CHAPTER X.
On Artistic Representations of Angling .... 205

CHAPTER XI.

The Morals, Manners, and Professions of Life, illustrated

from the Art of Angling 214

CHAPTER XII.

On Epitaphs on Anglers . . . . „ . .230

CHAPTER XIII.

Angling Literature in Great Britain, from the year 1800 to

the present day 240

A Bibliographical Catalogue of the Works which have been

written in the English Language on Angling . . 293

HISTORY

OF

ANGLING LITERATURE.

•* m •> '\-> » i 1 *

CHAPTER I.

On the Angling Literature of the Ancients, and on matters
connected with Fish in general, from the earliest times
to the Christian Era.

JL HERE have been many odd notions and quaint fancies
on the origin of angling. Some of the middle age
writers imagined that Seth was the first who handled a
rod and fixed a hook upon a line, and that he taught his
family the gentle art with great minuteness and success.
Angling, like everything else, having been once fairly es-
tablished as a pursuit of human life and amusement, was
subsequently handed down by tradition to posterity ; and,
during particular epochs, it might possibly be engraved,
in common with music and other arts, upon large stone
pillars, which would survive the havoc of time, and the
universal deluge. Whether there be any truth in these
dim traditions, certain it is, that angling of some sort can
be traced to a very remote period in the history of the

1

6 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

human family. In the days of Moses, we find that the
Israelites ate freely of fish, which were served up with
cucumbers, as salmon is at present. This is related of
them in their sojourn in the land of Egypt, and is
mentioned in the eleventh chapter of the book of
Numbers. . .

*V In otter; fopaks df Scripture we find mention is made of

angling^ .in Jgb,. Analog, Isaiah, and Habakkuk. Bishop
**•** • i * * * *
• t his. t Tsalarh/ translates the prophetic description

of the destruction of Egypt in these terms : —

" And the fishes shall mourn and lament ;
All those that cast the hook in the river,
And those that spread nets on the surface of the waters

shall languish.

And they that work the fine flax shall be confounded,
And they that weave net- work ;
And her stores shall be broken up ;
Even all that make a gain of pools of fish."

It is likewise recorded of Solomon that " he spake of
beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes"

In the Mosaic Law (Lev. ii, 9-12), the species of fish
permitted to be used for food are distinguished by having
scales and fins ; while those without scales were held to
be unclean, and therefore not useable. The knowledge
of the different kinds of fish among the Jews was com-
paratively limited. They had in their sojourn in Egypt
partaken of those of the Nile ; then of those found in
the Lake of Tiberias, and in the tributaries of the

THE ANCIENTS. 3

Jordan ; and likewise of the different species which were
caught in the Orontes, and the Euphrates. The chief
portion, however, of the fish used for food in Judea, came
from the Mediterranean ; and we have the authority of
Nehemiah (xiii, 16) for the statement that Phoenicians of
Tyre lived at Jerusalem, who dealt exclusively in fish.

In the Remains from Nineveh, there is a bas-relief of
the Fish-God (Khorsabad). Mr Layard says, " In a bas-
relief from Khorsabad representing a naval engagement,
or the siege of a city on the sea-coast, we have the god
nearly as described by Berossus. To the body of a man
as far as the waist is joined the tail of a fish. The
three-horned cap, surmounted by a flower in the form
of a fleur-de-lis, as worn by the winged figures of the bas-
reliefs, marks the sacred character. The right hand is
raised as in the representations of the winged deity in the
circle. This figure is in the sea amongst fish and marine
animals"1

The Fish-god of the Assyrians combined the human
shape with that of the fish. " The head of the fish,"
says Mr. Layard, " formed a mitre above that of the
man ; while its scaly back and fan-like tail fell as a cloak
behind, leaving the human feet and limbs exposed. " . . . .
" We can scarcely hesitate to identify this mythic form
from the Cannes or sacred Man-fish, who, according to
the traditions preserved by Berossus, issued from the
Erythraean Sea, instructed the Chaldeans in all wisdom, in

1 Nineveh, vol. ii, 466.

4 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

the sciences, and in the fine arts, and was afterwards
worshipped as a god in the temples of Babylonia. Its
body, says the historian, was that of a fish, but under the
head of a fish icas that of a man, and to its tail were joined
women's feet. Eive such monsters rose from the Persian
Gulf at fabulous intervals of time. It is conjectured that
this myth denotes the conquest of Chaldea at some remote
and prehistoric period, by a comparatively civilized nation,
coming in ships to the mouth of the Euphrates." The
Dagon of the Philistines and of the inhabitants of the
Phoenician coast was worshipped, according to the united
opinion of the Hebrew commentators of the Bible, under
the same form. When the ark of the Lord was brought
into the great temple of the idol at Ashdod, and the
statue fell a second time, " the head of Dagon, and the
palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold ; only
the fishy part of Dagon was left to him " (1 Sam. v, 4).
His worship appears to have extended over Syria, as well
as Mesopotamia and Chaldea. He had many temples,
as we learn from the Bible, in the country of the Phi-
listines ; and it was probably under the ruins of one of
them that Samson buried the people of Gaza, who had
" gathered together for to offer a great sacrifice unto
Dagon their god, and to rejoice \"c*

Angling must have been followed in the East, from
the earliest times, much in the same fashion as at present.

2 See also, Types of Mankind, or Ethnological Eesearches,
&c. &c. London, 1854.

THE ANCIENTS. 0

We find figures of persons angling painted on Egyptian
tombs, and even on the walls of Herculaneum. Wilkinson
states, in his book on Egypt, that anglers in that country
adopted a ground -bait, without any float ; and that it
does not appear that they had ever devised any process
similar to our present system of artificial fly-fishing,
which is an art still unknown to the modern Egyptians.
The ancient hooks of that country were made of bronze.
The use of fish-spears was likewise general, as appears
from many of the antique paintings of Egyptian origin.
The spear consisted of a long and stout pole, terminating
in two long and fine prongs, single barbed, and one of
them longer than the other. These instruments seem
to have been employed by the fishers as they gently
floated down the waters in their boats.

Fishing was an amusement in which the Egyptians
particularly delighted ; and not contented with the abun-
dance afforded by the Nile, they constructed within their
grounds spacious sluices or ponds for fish, like the Vivaria
of the Eomans, where they fed them for the table, and
where they amused themselves by angling, and the dex-
terous use of the bident.

These favourite occupations were not confined to young
persons, nor thought unworthy of men of serious habits ;
and an Egyptian of consequence is frequently represented
in the sculptures catching fish in a canal or lake with the
line; or spearing them, as they glided past the bank.
Sometimes the angler posted himself in a shady spot at

ANGLING LITERATURE OF

the water's edge, and having ordered his servants to spread
a mat upon the ground, he sat upon it, as he threw the
line; and some with higher notions of comfort, used a
chair for the same purpose. The rod used was short,
and apparently of one piece ; the line usually single,
though instances occur of a double line, each furnished
with its own hook, which, judging from those commonly
found, was of bronze.

The fishermen, who, it may be observed, composed
one of the sub-divisions of the Egyptian casts, and who
gained their livelihood by fishing, generally used nets in
preference to lines, but on some occasions they employed
the latter, seated or standing on the bank. It is, however,
probable, that these were people who could not afford
the expense of nets ; and the use of the line is generally
confined, in like manner, at the present day, to the poorer
classes, who depend upon skill or good fortune, for their
subsistence.

In all cases they adopted a ground bait (as is still
the custom in Egypt) without any float; and though
several winged insects are represented in the paintings
hovering over the water, it does not appear that they ever
put them to the hook, and still less that they had devised
any method similar to our artificial fly-fishing ; which is,
as just noticed, still unknown to the Egyptians, though
the fish of the Nile are occasionally seen to rise at insects
on the water's surface.3

3 Wilkinson's Egypt.

THE ANCIENTS. 7

The most favourite mode of fishing, among the Egyptians,
who took a pleasure in it, and prided themselves on their
skill in the art, was with the bident spear. The anglers
stood on the banks of a canal or river, but generally used
a punt or boat made of papyrus, in which they glided
smoothly over the waters, within their own grounds,
without disturbing the fish as they lay beneath the broad
leaves of the lotus plant. The custom of angling for
amusement, and spearing with the bident, was considered
peculiar to the aristocratic portion of the community ;
the poorer classes contenting themselves with the use of
the net and hook.4

Herodotus writes on Fish and Fisheries, and tells us that
a large sum was annually produced by the fisheries of the
Lake Moaris. " During six months," says he, " the
water of the river flows into it, and during the remaining
half of the year it returns from the lake into the Nile.
At this time, while the waters are retiring, the profits
derived from the fisheries, and paid daily into the royal
treasury, amount to a talent of silver ; and during the
other six months, when the water flows from the Nile into
the lake, the profits do not exceed twenty minse," or
about £64. 12s. of our money. He likewise tells us,
that this Moeris, from whom the Lake derived its
name, and who was supposed to have constructed the
canal, had arranged the sluices for the introduction
of the water, and established everything connected with

4 Strabo, lib. 17.

8 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

it; he also assigned the sum, equal to £193. 155. of
English money, annually derived from this source, as a
dowry to the queen, for the purchase of jewels, oint-
ments, and other objects connected with her Majesty's
toilet.5

In the hieratic papyri certain fish are mentioned as
brought from the Puharuta, or Euphrates, to Egypt (Select
Papyri, pi. 75, 1. 7); and another fish or fishy substance
called " Rura," as coming from the land of the great
waters of Mesopotamia. (Ibid. pi. 96.)

Fish are depicted in Egyptian hieroglyphics ; and in the
Mummy-room, in the British Museum, various articles of
domestic use among the Egyptians are stamped with figures
or representations of different kinds of fish.

Thebes and Beni Hassan abound with representations
of gentlemen engaged in fishing for their amusement;
sometimes in running brooks, sometimes in ponds con-
structed within their own grounds. One angler appears
seated in a chair ; others are reclining on mats spread on
the green turf, beneath a shady tree, wrapped, if we may
judge from the expression of the countenance, in one of
those delicious reveries described by old Izaak as amongst
the pleasing consequences of his favourite occupation.
The rod was short, and of one piece ; the line generally
single, and furnished with a bronze hook.

Some keener sportsmen used the spear with two barbed
points. Embarked in a boat of papyrus, they glided, as

5 Herodotus, i, 52.

THE ANCIENTS. 9

just noticed, over the surface of the lake on the canal as
gently as possible, so as not to disturb the fish lying
beneath the broad leaves of the lotus. They plunged the
instrument with one or both hands. Some appear to have
used a spear, which they darted to a short distance, a line
being fastened to it to prevent its being lost. This species
of spear was occasionally furnished with feathers, like an
arrow, to assist its flight. The end of the line was held
in the hand, or wound upon a reel. It is a remarkable
circumstance that the South Sea Islanders fish with
winged spears nearly in the same manner.

The Egyptians had abundance of salt fish, which they
cured much in the same way as we do. The body was
laid open with a knife from the head to the tail, being
divided as far as the back-bone, salted, .and exposed in
the sun to dry. They had a rule somewhat analogous
to our habit of eating salt fish on certain days in Lent.
It was imposed upon them also by a religious ordinance,
which enjoined that at a particular period of the year
every person (the priests alone excepted) should eat a
fried fish before the door of his house. The quantity of
this cheap provision of nature supplied by the Nile, and
transferred from it during the annual inundation to the
internal canals and lakes, was in those remote days, as it
still is, immense.

We are told that Gatis, queen of Syria, was so fond
of fish that, in order to be continually supplied with them,
she ordered that all that were taken in her dominions

10 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

should be brought to her, and that none should be eaten
unless by royal permission.6

In conjunction with those indications of the art of Ang-
ling found among the remains of the ancient Egyptians,
we may place those recently discovered in the valuable
collections of monuments brought from Nineveh and
Thebes, partly deposited in the British Museum, and
partly distributed in private collections in this and other
countries. A gentleman in the county of Essex has
recently purchased, through a private channel, some
remains from Nimroud, on one of which there is a
distinct representation of an Angler, with a rod in hand,
fish by his side, and a fish-basket on his shoulder, exactly
of the same construction as rods and baskets are now
made in Britain. In the Nineveh marbles in the British
Museum we have a large figure called the l?ish-Deity;
and in the long slabs now fixing up in this establishment,
but not yet open to the public, there are several repre-
sentations of fishermen with baskets, and in the act of
fishing with rod and line ; and there are representations
of hundreds of fish, not unlike our salmon- trout, floating
about in the portion of the marble in which water is re-
presented. In another slab, depicting the vanquished
after a battle, we see the dead bodies of the slain thrown
into the water, and eagerly attacked by fish. On a
tombstone from Thebes there is a very beautiful and ac-
curate representation of a fish of the bream or perch kind.
6 Athen., viii, 4.

THE ANCIENTS. 11

The art of Angling is mentioned in Homer. In Pope's
version of the Iliad, we have the following passage : —

" As from some rock that overhangs the flood,
The silent fisher casts the insidious food j
With fraudful care he waits the finny prize,
And sudden lifts it quivering to the skies."

We find likewise in Homer that the companions of
Ulysses, being pressed by hunger, partook of some fish ;
and the poet makes a kind of apology for them by saying,
" Hunger pressed their digestive organs."7

We are familiar, from our schoolboy days, with the
Tables of ZEsop, and that of the Fisherman and the Little
Fish. Here is the English translation imitated from the
French of La Fontaine.

" The smallest fry grow fish in time,

If not cut off before their prime ;
But he that throws them in the stream

In hopes when grown to take again,
Will very likely loose his aim,

And bait his hook in vain.

" A little carp from spawn just hatch' d,
Once on a luckless day was catch' d j
The fisher smiling at his prey ;
Quoth he, 'tis something to begin,
Into my wallet show the way
For greater to go in.

7 Odyss. xii, 332.

12 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

c< The carpling saw th' impending fate,
And strove with all his little prate

To ward the fatal blow ;
Alas ! he cried, in me
A puny, scanty thing you see,
Not worth a shrimp or grig ;
Indeed you'd better let me go,
And catch me when I am big.
I then may prove a noble fish

To grace my Lord Mayor's board ;
Thus he will have a dainty dish,
And you increase your hoard.
I am not a mouthful for a child ;
A hundred such as I
Might on a saucer lie,
Unfit for eating, fry'd or boil'd.
Why then you shall be broil' d,
Our Angler made reply,
And that this very night.
The fisherman was in the right."

MORAL.

" This lesson can never too often be conn'd,
One fish in the pan is worth two in the pond."

Theocritus was a native of Syracuse, and the son of

*

Praxagoras and Philinna. He flourished about the year
270 B. c. He is represented by classical critics as the
founder of Greek bucolic poetry, a branch of literature
subsequently imitated with great success by Virgil and

8 See JSsop's Fables, by Dr. Carai, Paris, 1810.

THE ANCIENTS. 13

others. The twenty-first idyl is the poem in which
Theocritus represents the life of Greek fishermen.9 It
refers more particularly to a discussion of two anglers
upon a dream. The piece is in the form of a dialogue.
One of the fishermen says : —

" Last evening, weary with the toils of day,
Lull'd in the lap of rest secure I lay j
Full late we supp'd, and sparingly we eat j
No danger of a surfeit from our meat.
Methought I sat upon a shelfy steep,
And watch' d the fish that gambol' d in the deep ;
Suspended by rod, I gently shove
The bait fallacious, which a huge one took —
(Sleeping we image what awake we wish ;
Dogs dream of bones, and fishermen offish).
Bent was my rod, and from his gills the blood,
With crimson stream, distain'd the silver flood.
I strecht my arm out lest the hook should break ;
The fish so vigorous, and my hook so weak !
Anxious I gaz'd ; he struggled to be gone :
* You 're wounded — I '11 be with you, friend, anon —
Still do you teaze me?' for he plagu'd me sore ;
At last, quite spent, I drew him safe on shore,
Then graspt him with my hand, for surer hold,
A noble prize, a fish of solid gold !
But fears suspicious in my bosom throng' d,
Lest to the god of ocean he belonged j
Or, haply wandering in the azure main,
Some favourite fish of Amphitrite's train.

9 Hoffman's Lexicon Bibliographicum.

14 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

My prize I loos' d, and strictest caution took,
For fear some gold might stick about the hook,
Then safe secur'd him, and devoutly swore
Never to venture on the ocean more,
But live on land as happy as a king.
At this I wak'd ; what think you of the thing ?
Speak free, for know I am extremely loth,
And greatly fear to violate my oath."

FRIEND.

" Fear not, old friend j you took no oath, for why ?
You took no fish — your vision 's all a lie.
Go search the shoals, not sleeping, but awake ;
Hunger will soon discover your mistake ;
Catch real fish : you need not, sure, be told,
Those fools must starve who only dream of gold."

The Greek work of OPPIAN, ' On the Nature of Pishes,
and the Fishing of the Ancients,3 is an interesting per-
formance. It is in five books : the first and second
discuss the nature of fish ; and the other three, the art
of fishing. The author was a native of Anazarbust a city of
Cilicia, and was born in the latter portion of the reign
of the Eoman emperor Commodus. The father of the
poet was a man of wealth and learning ; but falling under
the displeasure of the emperor Severus, he was banished
to the island of Malta. His son Oppian determined to
share his exile ; and it is generally supposed that he
wrote all his works during the period of this voluntary
banishment with his parent. Having returned again to

THE ANCIENTS. 15

his own country, and being favourably received at the
court of Severus, he was soon after seized with the plague,
which terminated his life, in the thirtieth year of his age.
The citizens of his native city were deeply afflicted by
this bereavement, and erected a statue to his memory
with the following inscription : —

" Though much they lov'd, no Heliconian maid
Could Oppian save, or fallen fate persuade ;
The rigid destinies' superior power
Snapt quick the thread, and fixt the hastened hour.
But had these sisters, like the nine, been kind,
Nor Oppian' s life to thrice ten years confin'd ;
All the inspir'd had him then* chief allow' d,
And all to his their humbler laurels bow'd !"

The first two books of the poem, as already mentioned,
are devoted to the nature, habits, and instincts of fish.
These are described with the accuracy of a naturalist, and
the fancy of a poet. The art of Angling, as known and
practised in his day and country, is detailed with great
minuteness and dexterity of colouring. In the third
book, he says : —

" By those who curious have their art defin'd,
Four sorts of fishers are distinct assign' d.
The first in hooks delight j here some prepare
The angler's taper length, and twisted hair :
Others the tougher threads of flax entwine,
But firmer hands sustain the sturdy line.
A third prevails by more compendious ways,
While num'rous hooks one common line displays."

16 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

The author then goes on describing other kinds of
fishers, such as use nets, spears, &c. On the instincts
of the finny tribes to elude their enemies, he says —

" Fishes have, too, their self-preserving arts,
Not that alone which home-bred fear imparts ;
Their foreign foes, they equally deceive ;
The entangling net and bur den' d hook relieve."

The critics of all ages have spoken in terms of eulogy
of this treatise of Oppian's. Eustathius and the Scholiasts
often quote him. Bodin says, his epithets are proper and
expressive, and his metaphors bold and dashing. The
elder Scaliger calls him a divine and incomparable poet ;
and Sir Thomas Brown says, " It is a wonder that
Oppian's elegant lines are so much neglected : surely we
hereby reject one of the best epic poets." Lauren tins
Lippius translated the poem into Latin verse ; and the
English translation is by Mr. Draper and Mr. Jones.

A paraphrase on Oppian's work, in Greek prose,
bearing the name of Eutecnius, is in several European
libraries ; but has as yet never been published.10

There is an historical incident connected with Cleo-
patra and Antony, which has often been mentioned in
connection with the early history of the gentle art. Ac-
cording to Plutarch the story runs thus : Antony had been
unsuccessful in his angling enterprises in the presence

10 Oppian's Halieutica was translated into French by J. M.
Limes, Paris, 1817 j and into Italian by A. M. Salvini, Firenze,
1728.

THE ANCIENTS. 17

of the Queen, but to redeem his credit for skill he gave
directions to some of his attendants to dive into the
water, and fix several large fish on his baits. Cleopatra
discovered the trick ; and sent down one of her own slaves
to affix a large salted fish of the Euxine sea on his hook,
Antony was mortified at the exposure of his puerile vanity,
and manifested some degree of displeasure at being
duped in this manner. The artful Queen threw her
arms round his neck, exclaiming, "Kesign, dear general,'
this kind of sport to us petty princes of Pharos and
Canopus : your game is cities, provinces and kingdoms."
Gay, the poet, has rendered this story into verse as
follows : —

" What gudgeons are we men,

Every woman's easy prey ;
Though we Ve felt the hook again,

We bite and they betray."

In the British Museum we have a figure of a Greek
fisherman, with fish in hand, and a fishing basket on the
other arm, evidently belonging to the early works of the
sculpture of Greece ; on another piece of Greek marble,
bearing the date of A. D. 334, we see the odd represen-
tation of a man turned into a fish !

The skin of the sole fish was, through the fertile fancy
of the Greeks, suggested as sandals for the Ocean nymphs.

" They served those sandals of the foamy sea
Which nimble Nereids sent on errands fleet
Apply protective to their tender feet."

2§

18 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

was a writer on Fish and Pishing: there is a
well-known chapter in his work, entitled, " On an un-
usual mode of fishing practised in Macedonia," in which
modern critics conceive that he alludes to the mode of
angling with an artificial fly. This subject has been
recently handled (Erazer's Magazine for October 1853) in
a very superior manner; and we make no apology for
inserting the following remarks on the question at issue.
The writer says, " zElian speaks, as we have elsewhere
noticed, of certain speckled fish, IX^^Q TV" xp°av Kard-
GTLKTOI (whose name he advises the curious to make out
from the Macedonians themselves), which are secured, he
says, by the device of an artificial fly called hippurus,
for the due dubbing of which, not to encumber our text
with too much Greek, the reader may consult the appended
foot-note.11 That these speckled fish were some species
of trout is rendered extremely probable from the mode
adopted to take them. Menesitheus, in Athenseus, speaks
of certain fish called pyruntes, excellent for the table, easy
of digestion, and only found in clear, rapid, and cold
streams ; which were also probably some kind of trout.
It seems, too, all but certain that the thymalus of -ZElian

11 Qlov T<$ aytdcTpif) 7repi(3a\\ovffiv tpiov
re rip tpio) §uo Trrepd a\f.KrpvovoQ^ VTTO TOLQ Ka\\koiQ TTf^v/cora,
ical K?;p9 TTJV xpoav TrapeiKaffpsva. The line to which this was
attached measured four cubits, and the rod was the same length
as the line.

THE ANCIENTS. 19

corresponds to the modern umbra,1** or gray ling; for, in
the first place, a fish of this name, which he assigns to
the Ticino and Adige, still continues to abound in both
these rivers ; secondly, the name itself, which he derives
from the thyme-like odour exhaled by the thymalus,
further countenances this view, as it accords perfectly
with modern testimony concerning the fragrance of the
grayling. " Some think he feeds on water-thyme, and
smells of it on first being taken out of the water," says
Walton. " So sweetly scented is his whole body," says
St. Ambrose, " as to have procured for a person highly
aromatized the equivocal compliment, 'that he smelt
as daintily as a flower or a fish.'" (Gesner, Rondolet, and
others also bear similar testimony to the peculiar bouquet
exhaled by a grayling when just caught.) Thirdly, the size
of the fantail thymalus — a cubit in length — and its shape,
like a mugil, are items neither of them inapplicable to
the modern fish ; and, fourthly, a last point of resemblance,
which helps very materially to establish the identity of the
two, is the similar mode resorted to by anglers in the
capture of both these fishes. Every one knows that the
favourite food of the grayling is flies ; and the Greek
,sophist tells us to the same purpose, that there is but
.one way for Piscator to take the thymalus, and that is,
rby " foregoing all the more ordinary fish baits and em-

12 Ausonius has excellently described, in one line, the move-
ments of this shy fish: —

" Effugiens oculie celeri umbra natatu."

20 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

ploying for his purpose the little fly, which night and day
torments by his buzz and his bite, the /cwvwi//,13 or mosquito,
using which for his lure, the sport, whenever there are
any thymali in the neighbourhood, is assured." Aldro-
vandi, citing the above passage from ^lian, marvels what
hook could be fine enough to impale a gnat ; and it seems
quite clear that this author (no great adept himself, ap-
parently, in myology or fly-fishing) has substituted by
mistake the culex pipiens in this place for some other fly
more or less resembling it in shape — perhaps for the
Mayfly itself!

We do not find that the Greeks were in the habit, like
the Eomans, of keeping Vivaria, or fish-ponds. There
is one instance mentioned of a stew made by the inhabi-
tants of Girgenti (Sicily) for the use of the tyrant Gelon.
According to Diodorus Siculus, it was a reservoir of
several miles in extent, made very deep, filled with fresh
water, and well stocked with fish of all kinds. In addition
to the mention of this pond, we have Moschon's account
of Micro's ship, which is a very curious one. This vessel
was built at Syracuse, under the superintending eye of
Archimedes, and destined for the transit of corn. Her
timbers were cut down from the sides of mount .ZEtna,
the working of which occupied sixty common galleys.
When Hiero collected all the planks, nails, cordage, pitch,

13 Kwj'WTrt fie alptirai /zoj/y, Trovrjp^ fiev £<*><£> KO.L fitO' 7/jus-
pav Kai vvKT(op av9p&7roiQ tx#p<£ Kdl ScLKtiv teal porjvai' alptl
fit TQV QvjiaXXov TQV Trpoeiprjiiwov, 0iA;;fcI yap avr<fi fiov^t.

THE ANCIENTS. 21

and other materials, he brought his shipwrights toge-
ther, and set them to .their task. The master builder's name
was Archias. There were three hundred carpenters, besides
assistants, who all worked night and day by turns. When
the structure attained to half its bulk, it was launched by
Archimedes himself, and the remaining portion of the
vessel finished on the water. It had three decks, and
twenty rows of rowers. The floors in all the rooms were
mosaics, ornamented with figurative representations taken
from the Iliad. There was a gymnasium, and an English
flower-garden, a trelliced vineyard and avenue of trees, to
shade the promenades on deck. There was an Aphro-
disium, inlaid with a rich and brilliant assortment of
Sicilian agates, and cypress panels ; an academic saloon,
a library, ten stables, on each side the gangway, and
cribs all along the ship's sides, for grooms, harness, and
accoutrements. Besides all these surprising things, there
was a large reservoir, made of planks caulked and pitched,
containing 21,000 gallons of water, under lock and key.
By the side of this reservoir, and fed by it, was a
pond, also ma5e of planks, lined with lead and carefully
covered ; and in this a great number and variety of fish
were kept.

Aristotle's Treatise on Fish is an important one. In
his AnimaUa, he recognises 117 kinds of fishes. He
dwells on their habits of life, their peregrinations, their
likings and aversions, their cunning, loves, modes of
propagation, &c. &c.

22 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

According to the philosophical creed of India, fish are
the emblems of the world's salvation.

" In the whole world of creation

None were seen but these seven sages, Menu and the Fish.
Years on years, and still unwearied drew that Fish the bark along,
Till at length it came where reared Himavan its loftiest peak,
There at length they came, and smiling thus the Fish addressed

the Sage :

' Bind thou now thy stately vessel to the, peak of Himavan.'
At the Fish's mandate, quickly to the peak of Himavan
Bound the Sage his bark : and even to this day that loftiest peak
Bears the name of Naubaudhana."14

The Eomans were passionately fond of fish: they
used a net as well as a hook for angling; and Suetonius
tells us that the Emperor Nero was accustomed to fish
with a net of gold and purple. There was a great variety
of nets in common use for obtaining the various kinds
of fish. We find figures of persons angling on the walls
of Herculaneum. Plutarch mentions corks and leaden
weights as additions to the nets. In the British Museum
there is a marble figure of a Eoman angler of fine artistic
workmanship, but not supposed to be so ancient as some
Greek ones in the same establishment.

In the tragedies of j^Eschylus and Sophocles there are
remarks introduced on the nature of fish sauces.

Symmachus, Polycrates, and Lamprias wrote for the
purpose of repressing the taste for fish and fishing, by

14 Quarterly Review, 1839.

THE ANCIENTS. 23

fciaintaining that those who ate fish were the most cruel
and repulsive of men.

The construction of Vivaria, or fish-ponds, was carried
to a most extravagant length by the Romans. As the
luxurious habits of the upper classes increased, the keeping
of these reservoirs became, in fact, quite a mania. They
were made on house-tops and in dining-rooms ; and many
of the most wealthy and distinguished men of the age
wasted their time and fortune in these insane projects,
as we may learn from Cicero, who ironically calls
Lucullus, Hortensius, and Philippus, the "Tritons of
the fish-ponds." Varro says of Hortensius, "that he
not only was never entertained by his fish at table, but
was scarcely ever easy unless engaged in entertaining
and fattening them. For his mullet gives him infinitely
more concern than my own mules and asses do ; for
whilst I, with one lad, support all my thrifty stud on a
little barley and common water, Hortensius' fish- servants
are not to be counted. He has fishermen in fine weather
toiling to procure them bait ; and when the weather is
too boisterous for fishing, then a whole troop of butchers
and dealers in salt provisions send in their estimates of
terms for keeping his alumni fat. Hortensius so looks
to his mullet as to forget his men ; and a sick slave has
less chance of getting a draught of cold water in a fever
than these favoured fish of being kept cool in their stews
at midsummer."

Ludi piscatorii were held every year on the 6th June

24 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

in the plain on the right bank of the Tiber, and were
conducted by the Praetor Urbanus, on behalf of the
fishermen of that river who made the day a holiday.

Among the Romans the love of fish, as an article of
food, was likewise quite a passion. Pliny tells us that
the great epicures among this people preferred the scams
to every other kind of fish. The eel-pout, or lotos-liver,
was the next in estimation. The red mullet was in high
favour, from the fact that when the scales are removed
from this fish, it still retains a fine pink colour. " The
fops of Rome having remarked that, at the death, this
colour passed through a succession of the most beautiful
shades, the poor mullet was served alive, inclosed in a
glass vessel ; and the guests, attentive and greedy of
emotions, enjoyed this cruel spectacle, which presented
to them a gradation of colours which insensibly dis-
appeared." u It is further stated, in reference to this fish,
that " the greatest sensualists killed it in brine, and
Apicius was the first who invented this kind of luxury;
The brine most in use, in such cases, was made with the
blood of mackerel, and that was one of the varieties of
that famous garum, so highly praised by the Latin authors,
and which was to them, at that period, what the fish sauces
of the English are now."16

Apicius offered a prize to any one who would invent a
new brine, made with the liver of red mullets. Juvenal

15 Seneca, Qusest. Natural. 3, 17, 18.
. 16 Soyer's Pantropheon, p. 213.

THE ANCIENTS. 25

informs us that Asinius Celer offered sixty pounds for one
of these fish which weighed Gibs.1?

Julius Pollux, in speaking of fishermen, divides them
into the following orders : — Anglers ; fishermen, by nets
and fire (that is, a torch at the end of a boat for night-
fishing with spear) ; divers for sponges, or the purple
fish ; and catchers of wild-fowl. The ordinary instru-
ments used were : — the nassa or net, said to be made of
twigs ; baskets of various kinds ; a casting net ; a uni-
versal net ; a drag-net ; the yayyaiiov, or sagena, from
which it was said fish could not escape ; corks ; bamboo
fishing-rods; poles or stakes to fix into the ground;
fishing-lines; flax and sewiag thread; hooks; leads,
and fishing- spears. To this list the author adds the
boat utensils ; and observes that in the night-fishery the
fishermen propelled the boat down the stream with poles,
and had ropes for mooring on land, .machines for drawing
the boat, connected with towing, the boats being drawn
up trenches; skins used to protect their hulls from
injuries ; and props, or perforated stones, to which they
attached the mooring ropes. This catalogue, to which
are added explanations from known practices, is con-
firmed by Plutarch and others, and proves that few or
no additions have been made in this branch of the art
of fishing in the present day. In this art, successful
deception and security of the tackle were the essential
points constantly insisted on. The fishing-rods were
17 Juvenal, 4, 11.

3

26 ANGLING LITERATURE OP

slender, lest they should shade the water too much ; the
line was made of the fewest possible knots, and the hair
of horses, more especially of stallions. The whitest hair
was recommended, to render the line less perceptible, and
to be placed next the hook ; and above that was a small
hollow piece of horn, which the fish was obliged to swal-
low before it could touch the bait, and which prevented
it from closing its mouth so as to bite the line asunder ;
and there were likewise round and straight hooks, ac-
cording to the different kinds of fish.18

In the reign of Domitian, there was a prodigious large
turbot caught, such as had never before been seen. It was
ordered to the imperial kitchen. The emperor convoked
the senate to consider in what dish it should be cooked,
and served up entire. The deliberation was long and
stormy ; all Borne was in a state of excitement by the
debate ; and the august body of senators endeavoured to
prove itself worthy of the confidence reposed in them by
Caesar. They were unanimous in their resolutions that a
dish should be made expressly for this enormous fish,
since there were none large enough ready made ; and also
that a stove should be constructed sufficiently capacious
to allow the dish to be conveniently placed upon it. The
emperor, the city and the whole court applauded the
singular sagacity of the senate ; and " le turbot fut mis
a la sauce piquante"

18 Pollux, 7, 10, 31.

THE ANCIENTS. 27

Among the Latin poets we often find allusions to fish.
Speaking of the turbot, Horace says, —

" Grandes rhombi patinseque
Grande ferunt una cum damno dedecus."

11 Great turbots and late suppers lead
To debt, disgrace, and abject need."

And Martial, on the same fish, says, —

" Q.uamvis lata gerat patella rhombum,
Rhombus latior est tamen patellis."

" The border of the broadest dish
Lay hid beneath the monster fish."

A fisherman with his rod and line in a boat, from an
antique in the MaiFei Collection at Verona, has been
engraved; and likewise a beautiful painting of Venus
and Cupid angling, found in the house of the tragic poet
at Pompeii.19

Varro, Columella, and Pliny are the chief authors from
whom we derive our knowledge of the nature and con-
struction of these Eoman fish stews. Varro was in his
eightieth year when he penned his De Re Rmtica, dedi-
cating it to his wife, with a view to instruct her in the
cultivation of his farm when he should be called to his
long home. In the language of great common-sense

19 Sir William G-elTs Pompeiana, vol. ii.

28 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

shrewdness he says, "We have no time, my dear, to
lose : if man's estate be, as we are told it is, a soap
bubble at the best, much it behoves an old fellow like
me, whose eightieth birthday is at hand, speedily to put
his house in order, because he departs out of life." He
then goes on to descant on the best manner of rearing
and feeding cattle, fowls, bees, &c. ; and, lastly, on the
advantages to be derived from an economical method of
managing fish-ponds. These he divides into two kinds —
fresh and salt water reservoirs. The first are within the
means of the poor man ; but the latter are only for the
luxury of the rich, on account of the expenses entailed
in their construction.

Columella gives, in his De Re Rmtica, a more minute
account of these vivaria. He recommends them to be
made on moor or waste land, because they then entail no
cost, save for the mere construction. It is advisable to
make ponds as near the ocean as possible ; and if a com-
munication can be effected with it to the reservoir, it is
so much the better, because then the waters of the stews
never stagnate : " thus imitating the great waters whence
they are derived, which, never being of the same tem-
perature, are in perpetual movement, and renewed every
hour." But the most noticeable thing in his work is,
that the Eomans in making their ponds turned lakes and
rivers into them, and this they found to be the sure means
of depositing in them not fish only, but the spawn of all

THE ANCIENTS.

29

those species which, though bred in salt water, are in
the habit of leaving the sea, and running up all estuaries
and rivers. He tells us that the experiment was suc-
cessful in several rivers, which he calls the Yelius, Sabas-
tius, Caminus, Volsinius, &c.

CANNES— DAG ox, Assyrian fish-god.
(Jonah, i. 17 ; 1 Sam. v. 4.)

3§

30 ANGLING LITERATURE OP

CHAPTER II.

On Angling Literature, from the Christian Era to the Revival
of Letters in Europe, and the Institution of the Art of
Printing.

PLTNY (A.. D. 23) treats of the nature, habits, and
localities of fish, in his Historia Naturalis. The ninth
book is devoted to this subject. In the eighteenth chap-
ter he says, that in the country of Aquitaine, in Prance,
the river salmon surpasses all other sea salmon whatever.
The mode of catching eels, in the lake Benacus, he tells
us, is by the employment of leapiceeles and weanets, which
were so artistically constructed, that by the nouse there
was often found a thousand of them wrapped together in
one great round ball.

Pliny represents certain fish as appearing when called
upon by particular names.

The form of a fish (Notius Poseidon) was, from the
most remote ages, a type of protective dominion, which
the symbolizing spirits of the ancients caused to pass
into Christianity; as appears from Eusebius (Life of
Constantine), and St. Augustine (De Civitate Dei}.

On the walls of the oldest catacombs the represen-

THE MIDDLE AGES. 31

tation of the IX0Y2 is frequently discernible, and always
interpreted ,as an emblem of the Saviour.

" Piscator, fuge, ne nocens recedas.
Sacris piscibus hse natantur undse,
Qui norunt dominum, manumque lambunt

Illam

Quid quod nomen habent, et ad magistri
Vocem quisque sui venit citatus."

" Rash angler, here thy guilty sport forbear,
These finny natives are a monarch's care ;
The gentle kind obey his known command,
And feed familiar from his sporting hand ;
Each has his name, which, severally, they hear,
And to their owner's summons straight appear."

Ausonius flourished in the fourth century of the
Christian era. In his poem " Mostella," Tench, Salmon,
and other kinds of fish are described. He was the first
Latin poet who mentions the salmon under its present
title:—

" Nee te puniceo rutilantem viscere saimo
Transierim."

And elsewhere he distinguishes it by different names
according to its age : —

" Teque inter geminas species, neutrurnque et utrumque,
Qui necdum salmo nee jam salar ambiguusque
Amborum, medio Fario intercepto sub sovo."

32 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

Of the salar lie writes in another place : —

" Purpureusque salar stellatus tergora guttis."

Olaus Magnus describes the progress of a band of
salmon, shining in their glittering panoply of scales,
gleaming fitfully in the sun, and sweeping like an invading
army irresistibly onwards, apparently without intermission
or end, as a spectacle well worthy of admiration. They
have been noticed on these occasions to swim, as wild
geese fly, wedgeways ; some large old salmoness forming
the apex of the triangle, and the young males bringing up
the rear. When on a forced march, they can proceed,
according to some biographers, at the rate of thirty miles
an hour, taking several flying leaps as they go of from
twelve to fifteen feet in height.

Among the Fathers of the Church who make allusions
to fish and fishing may be mentioned Clemens Alex-
andrinus, and Sts. Basil, Ambrose, and Athanasius.

St. Isidorus of Seville, in his De Or dine Creaturarum,
gives an account of fish, and the rivers and seas they
inhabit.

We find some account, in the early history of Welsh
literature, that angling occasionally furnished a topic for
versifying among the poets of Wales. Taliesin is men-
tioned as one of the piscatory bards, who flourished about
A.D. 560, and wrote a poem of some length on one of the
Welsh kings having been found in a salmon weir, and

THE MIDDLE AGES. 33

likewise about the value and importance of this repository
of the " monarch of the streams."

There was a paper read a few years ago, at a society of
antiquaries at Arras, in France, on an old manuscript
treatise on fishing, found among the remains of the valu-
able library belonging to the Abbey of St. Bertin's, at
St. Omer. This work was supposed, by the style of
writing, to have been composed about the year one
thousand ; arid to have been divided into twenty-two
chapters. As far as could be gathered from the mutilated
.remains of the work, the author's main object was to
prove that fishers had been men singularly noticed by
Divine approbation; and he supports this theoretical
view from the leading incidents in the life of the fisher-
men of Judea, through whom Christianity was promul-
gated to the world. There was likewise appended to the
manuscript a full list of all river fish, the baits used for
taking them, and the suitable seasons for angling for
each sort of fish. One of the French critics on this
singular production says, — " That angling was sufficiently
common in the days of our Saviour is obvious to every
one who possesses the New Testament ; and it has always
proved suggestive to our minds that the greatest event
the world has ever witnessed — the greatest change
ever effected on human society — and which is destined to
advance and increase till all mankind shall feel the bene-
fits of its influence, was brought about by the agency of
a few poor fishermen. It would seem as if the innocence

34 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

and harmlessness of their gentle occupation had acted as
a becoming preparation for that life of gentleness and
charity, and purity and benevolence, which was to distin-
guish them above all men, and to give them their glorious
pre-eminence in the universal church of Christ."

In 1350 we have, in the Spanish language, a Poem by
Juan Ruiz, designated ' The Battle of Mr. Carnal with
Mrs. Lent.' Here the fish and the beasts are arrayed
in mortal strife, ending in the complete overthrow of the
latter ; the fish and the holy cause obtain the victory, and
Mr. Carnal is condemned to fast, unless in case of illness,
upon one spare meal of fish a day.

Du Cange has described the various modes and instru-
ments of fishing of the middle ages. There was the Pir-
vene> that round net, wThich he thinks had leaden globules
on the lower part of it, the upper ending in a horn ; the
Scortiare, for taking sea-fish near the level shore; the
Trammel-net, of triple meshes of regulated sizes; the
Tranversarium, a net for the use of rivers ; another net,
called Alcipiter> a double kind of one, to be used both
for large and small fish ; the Frouc-nezze, a public net
belonging to the community ; and the Rivale, or modern
landing-net. This author likewise mentions fishing with
a cormorant; by driving the fish to one particular lo-
cality ; by fisheries formed of wooden materials ; by the
Cor re y a method by which the net was cast from the boat
according to the course of the water, and, a long circuit
being made, drawn back to its first place ; by the Gordus,

THE MIDDLE AGES. 35

a place marked and staked out in the river for the capture
of fish; by the Junchatica^ an instrument made of rushes ;
by the Kedellus, the beetle and weir ; by the Nassa Fol-
laria, a thing uncertain, but by which people fished on
foot under sluices, in the twelfth century; by the Per-
ca/ptura, a series of pales, so disposed in the rivers that
the fish might be readily taken, and preserved in nets ;
by the Posta, a method of fishing by a net fastened at one
end to a stake, with which the fishermen made a circuit,
returning to the spot from whence they set out ; by the
Ramata, composed of branches of trees thrown into the
water, within which the fish might the more easily be
captured ; and by the Vena, an inclosure to intercept fish,
but of its exact nature we know nothing at the present
day.1

We shall insert here the curious tract, taken from the
original manuscript in Trinity College, Cambridge, entitled
Piers Fulkam, supposed to have been written about the
year 1420.

PIERS OF EULLHAM.

EX MS. TO PP. APTJD TEIN. COLL. CANT.

Loo worshipfull sirs here after ffolleweth a gentlymaly tretyso
full convenyent for contemplatiff louers to rede and understand
made by a noble Clerk e Piers of ffulha sum tyme ussher of Venus

1 Avers, Lignum Piscatftrium.

36 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

Scliole, whiche hath brieflye compyled many praty conceytis itf
loue under covert termes of ffysshyng and ffowlyng.

" Perdimus anguillam manibus dum stringinius illain."

A man thath 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,

Larapreyes lucys or pykys plesaunt,

Wenyng the ffissher suche fisshe to ffynde ;

Than comyth there a noyous north west wynde

And dryveth the fisshe into the depe,

And causeth the draught nat worthe a leeke ;

But in steide off sturgeon and lamprons

He draweth up gurnard, and gojons,

Codlyng cungur, and suehe coisy2 fisshe,

Or wulwiche rochis, nat worthe a rysshe.

Suche fortune ofte tymes on fisshers fallys,

Though they on Petir prayen and callys.

It profiteth nat and skille is why

Ffor they to fisshyng goon wyth envy,

And put it oute off hiernes and hooles

Where as they ffynde the ffatt sooles,

And wayte in waraynes all the nyght,

Evene a non after the owls flight,

2 Coisy, query quasi ?

THE MIDDLE AGES. 37

Whan that true men shulde goo to rest

To bribe and bere away the best.

That soiourne and kept bien in stiewe

Ffor store that nothyng shulde hym remewe.

But the goode man that oweth that gouernance,

His costlewe catell and his purviaunce

And severel oonly for to serue hym selff,

But nowe other that use anglyng ten or twelff,

Wyth water hookys, and certayne baite,

That makyth the fisshe after their foode to wayt,

To breeke trunkes these traitours use,

The cely fisshes can nat hem selff excuse ;

Tyll it be spitted like a sprotte,

But the goodeman knoweth thereof no grott.

That paieth for all though that he be blynde

So that he his fille off fisshe may fynde

It suffiseth he seieth. No man will stele

Thus berdes been maade all daye full feele

With anglers and other gynnes over all,

There may no mans stiewe stonde seuerall,

Be it closed neuer so well abowte,

Therfor I stonde cliere out off doute,

Shall I never ponde wyth pykes store

Breame tenche. Perche neuer the moore.

But in rennyng ryvers that bee commone,

There will I fisshe and taake my fortune

Wyth nettys, and with angle hookys,

And laye weris and sprenteris in narrowe brookys,

Ffor loochis, and lampreyes, and good layk,

I will stele off no mans a strayke.

Ffor whoo so usith that lyff too, and too,

His fusteryng sothly is for doo,

4

38 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

Idrowned, on day peraventure sodeynly,

Taken to prison in povert dye.

And therfor lett true men liven in pays,

Stroye natt theire stiews, stele dat theire plays.

I see suche thynge afoore the eye

That dayly encresith save the severalte

Beeth wise and ware howe that ye wende

Ffor off false fisshying commy th a fowle ende,

Therfor eschewe all suche prevy slaunders

Com there nat daily out off fflaunders

Off ffat elys full many a showte ?

And grete chepe whoso waiteth aboute,

But no we men in deyntyes so hem delyte,

To feede them on tendre fisshes lyte,

As floundres, perches, and such pikyng waare,

I see no man that will gladly spaare

To suffre them wex unto their o age ;

Theye shullen be endyted for suche damage,

And ete the olde fisshe, and leve the yonge,

Thought they moore towgh be uppon the tdnge,

And the belyes not shewyng an ynche resett,

Yet savowre off sawce may make goode mete.

Late this yonge fisshe lyve till certayn yeres,

And payne us to fisshe oure olde weres,

But stynkkyng fisshe, and unseasonable,

Latt passe, and taake such as be able.

Spaare no man, but love no wast,

Beth well waare when ye feele such tast,

Ffor in fisshe ffatt is felt no boone,

But whoo that about suche game shulde goon,

Off governance he must have a name,

And suffre no man to fisshe in others game.

THE MIDDLE AGES. 39

Among the earliest productions of British literature
relative to angling, is the Poetica, attributed to a Scottish
rhymster called Blind Harry, who flourished about the
termination of the fourteenth century. The lines are
upon a fishing excursion of Sir William Wallace, who, in
in his rambles, fell in with Lord Percy, and a contention
sprung up between them as to the right to fish.

" So on a time he descried to play,
In Aperil the third-and-twentieth day.
Till Irvine water fish to tak he went,
Sic fantasy fell in his intent.
To lead his net a child furth with him yede,3
But he, or4 noon, was in a fellon dread.
His swerd he left, so did he never again ;
It did him gude, suppose he suffered pain.
Of that labour as than he was not slie,
Happy he was, took fish abundantly.
Or of the day ten hours o'er couth pass.
Eidand there came, near by where Wallace was,
The Lord Percy, was captain then of Ayr ;
Frae then' he turned, and couth to Glasgow fare,5
Part of the court had Wallace' labour seen,
Till him rade five, clad into ganand green,
And said soon, ' Scot, Martin's fish we wald have !'
Wallace meekly again answer him gave :
* It were reason, methink, ye should have part ;
Waith6 should be dealt, in all place, with free heart.'

* Went. 4 Ere.

6 He was on his way from Ayr to Glasgow.

6 Spoil taken in sport.

40 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

He bade his child, ' Give them of our waithing.*

The Southron said, * As now of thy dealing

We will not tak ; thou wald give us o'er small.'

He lighted down and frae the child took all,

Wallace said then, e Gentlemen gif ye be,

Leave us some part, we pray, for charity.

Ane aged knight serves our lady to-day :

Gude friend, leave part, and tak not all away.'

' Thou shall have leave to fish, and tak thee mae,

All this forsooth shall in our flitting gae.

We serve a lord ; this fish shall till him gang.'

Wallace answered, said, c Thou art in the wrang.'

' Wham thous thou, Scot ? in faith thou 'serves a blaw.'

Till him he ran, and out a swerd can draw.

William was wae he had nae wappins there

But the poutstaff, the whilk in hand he bare.

Wallace with it fast on the cheek him took,

With sae gude will, while of his feet he shook.

The swerd flew frae him a fiir-breid on the land.

Wallace was glad, and hint it soon in hand ;

And with the swerd awkward he him gave

Under the hat, his craig7 in sunder drave.

By that the lave8 lighted about Wallace ;

He had no help, only but God's grace.

On either side full fast on him they dang,

Great peril was gif they had lasted lang.

Upon the head in great ire he strak ane ;

The shearand swerd glade to the collar bane.

Ane other on the arm he hit so hardily,

While hand and swerd baith in the field can lie.

<*

7 Neck. 8 Best.

THE MIDDLE AGES. 41

The tother twa fled to their horse again ;

He stickit him was last upon the plain.

Three slew he there, twa fled with all their might

After their lord ; but he was out of sight,

Takand the muir, or he and they couth twine.

Till him they rade anon, or they wald blin,9

And cryit, c Lord, abide ; your men are martyred down

Bight cruelly, here in this false region.

Five of our court here at the water bade,10

Fish for to bring, though it nae profit made.

We are scaped, but in field slain are three.'

The lord speirit,11 'How mony might they be?'

' We saw but ane that has discomfist us all.'

Then leugh12 he loud, and said, ' Foul mot you fall !

Sin' ane you all has put to confusion.

Wha meins it maist the devil of hell him drown !

This day for me, in faith, he bees not sought.'

When Wallace thus this worthy wark had wrought,

Their horse he took, and gear that left was there,

Gave ower that craft, he yede to fish nae mau\

Went till his erne, and tald him of this deed,

And he for woe well near worthit to weid,13

And said, c Son, thir tidings sits me sore,

And, be it known, thou may tak scaith therefore.'

* Uncle,' he said, * I will no langer bide,

Thir southland horse let see gif I can ride.'

Then but a child, him service for to mak,

His erne's sons he wald not with him tak.

This good knight said, ' Dear cousin, pray I thee,

When thou wants gude, come fetch eneuch frae me.'

9 Ere they would stop. 10 Tarried. u Inquired.

12 Laughed. 13 Nearly went mad.

4 {

42 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

Silver and gold he gart on him give,
Wallace inclines, and gtidely took his leave."

By the way, what curious records of legislation the
sumptuary laws appear to us now-a-days, relative to the
use of fish, and which were in full force for a long period
both in England and in France ! Under the reign of
Edward II, certain fish never appeared in England but
on the table of the king; they were prohibited to all
others. In 1148, Stephen wanted to modify this exclusive
right ; but after his death it was again revived, and
considered as a royal prerogative.

In former times there was a remarkable consumption
of fish in England on the 4th of July, the festival of St.
Ulric. This is mentioned by Barnaby Gouge, in the
following lines ;—

ST. HULDYCHE.

" Wheresoever Huldyche hath a place, the people there bring in
Both capes and pykes, and mullets fat, his favour here to win.
Amid the Church there sitteth one, and to the aultar nie,
That selleth fish, and so good cheep, that every man may huie ;
!Nor anything he loseth here, bestowing thus his paine,
For when it hath been offered once, 't is brought to him againe,
That twise or thrise he selles the same, vngodlinesse such gaine
Doth still bring in, and plentiously the kitchen doth maintaine,
Whence comes this same religion newe ? What kind of God

is this ? 14
Some Huldyche here, that so desires and so delightes in fishe."

>4 The Popish Kingdome, fol. 55.

THE MIDDLE AGES. 43

The sumptuary enactments of Edward VI. and Eliza-
beth were as stringent as in the days of Papal ascendency.
The statutes of Edward (cap. 6) aim at maintaining with
rigour the better observance of Fridays and Saturdays,
and other days of accustomed abstinence; and likewise
for other two purposes : that fishermen may be set to
work, and that much flesh may be saved and increased.
In addition to Fridays and Saturdays, Elizabeth added
Wednesdays, allowing, however, on this day, one dish of
flesh, provided there were consumed at the same meal
three dishes of sea-fish. At certain seasons this indulgence
did not extend to beef or veal.

The sumptuary laws of France ordained (1294) that a
meagre-dinner should consist of two herring-pottages, and
only one sort of fish. Louis XII, who was a great epi-
cure, appointed six fishmongers to supply his table with
fresh- water fish ; Francis I had twenty-two, and Henry
the Great, twenty-four. In the reign of Louis XIY, there
was quite a mania about fish, chiefly from the circum-
stance that one of the royal cooks had acquired the
marvellous talent of cooking all kinds of fish so as to
taste like the most delicate game. And we have a story
grounded on this circumstance respecting Vatel, one of
the most illustrious officers of the Prince of Conde.
This major-domo understood that a dinner without fish
was a heartless and cheerless one. One day when his
noble master entertained Louis XIV at a royal banquet,
at Chantilly which the genius of Vatel rendered more

44 ANGLING LITERATURE.

brilliant, the fish from the coast failed; he sent every-
where, but none could be procured. He was at his wit's
end ; he met his august master, whose kind words, full of
benevolence, only served to increase his distress and
bewilderment. He left him ; ran to his chamber ; took
his sword, and three times pierced his heart ! Shortly
after fish arrived from all quarters ; Yatel was called — no
Vatel ! He was sought for, and at last discovered — Vatel
was no more !

FISH AND FISHING. 45

CHAPTEE III.

On the Eeligious Veneration of, and Superstitious Sacredness
connected with Fish and Fishing.

ONE of the most curious features in the history of
writings, ancient and modern, on the nature of fish and of
fishing, is the vast space they occupy in connection with
theology, and with the incoherent and superstitious ideas
or notions, which have floated in the minds of the human
family, relative to the finny tribes, from the earliest records
of their existence till the present hour. A thick and
impenetrable cloud of theological awe and symbolical
mysticism envelopes the entire subject.

In Egypt the eel was devoted to religious worship.
These fish were ornamented with silver, gold, and precious
stones, and priests daily offered them the entrails of
animals served up with cheese.1 In Bceotia, eels were
immolated to the gods.

The Oxyrinchus, the Phagrus, and the Lepidotus, were
considered sacred fish, and it was unlawful to touch them.

In the collection of Nineveh Inscriptions now in the
British Museum, we find a large slab, with the repre-
sentation of a Fish-Deity. It is one of the most curious

I'Apallodor. in Chron. Plutarch, De Soleit. -3£lian, De
Piscibus.

46 FISH AND FISHING.

and perfect of figures among the wonderful relics of a
forgotten people.

We are told that among the Greeks, though many of
the more refined epicures of this nation were partial to
the eating of the Loach ; yet the majority of the inhabi-
tants totally refrained from its use, lest the Syrian goddess,
the protectress of this fish, should gnaw their legs, cover
their bodies with ulcers, and devour their livers.2

The Eomans offered up the Tunny fish as a sacrifice to
the god Neptune, in order that he might deign to prevent
the Xipkias fish from tearing the nets of the fishermen,
and to forbid the too officious dolphins from assisting in
their escape.3

Martial tells us of fish which belonged to a sacred tank,
and which were too holy to be handled. JSlian likewise
mentions fish kept in a pond, and dedicated to Jupiter
Militant. Varro tells us of some Lydian fish which were
considered invested with a remarkable degree of sacred-
ness. In the History of Lydia by Polycharmus, we are
told that there was a grave on the sea shore, consecrated
to Apollo, where a priest usually sat to whom those
who had any important matter in hand would bring two
spits, to each of which were suspended ten pieces of meat,
as consulting bait, and throwing them into the gulf, be
desired by him to make note of what followed. As the
water came rushing in, the observer saw, on the back of

2 Plutarch, De Supersti. Athen. i, 6.

3 Nonnius, Icth. p. 9.

RELIGION, SUPERSTITION, ETC. 47

the approaching waves, "an immense number of fish,
enough to frighten any one, from their multitude and
size." When the inquirer, on the bidding of the priest,
had carefully recounted to him the catalogue of the fish
he had seen, the other was illumined to take up his para-
ble, and to make known to his client his future destiny.

The spirit for symbolizing all the objects of nature
became, in the early history of the Church, very powerful.
Material objects of all kinds, animate and inanimate,
were invested by religious visionaries with symbolical
meanings. Fish formed an important item in this idle
worship and veneration.

In the lives of the Christian hermits of the East, we
have many of the illustrations between theology and the
finny tribes, besides that of Saint Anthony. The resi-
dences or cells of these personages were generally hewn
out of the solid rock, and almost invariably situated near
some clear and running brook or rivulet. This limpid
water was a necessary article of their existence. They
were in the habit of sitting for hours together musing
by the sparkling and murmuring streams ; and the small
fish in them became the daily companions of their solitude.
The hermits about mount Nitre, we are told, used to feed
the fish with crumbs of bread. It was in this way that
the various stories, recorded in the lives of the solitaries,
arose about the sympathetic affections manifested, by the
inhabitants of the waters towards the persons and move-
ments of their friendly benefactors. We are told that one

48 FISH AND FISHING.

Dorathus was in the habit of visiting a neighbouring
stream, and that the fish at last became so well acquainted
with his person, that they allowed themselves to be
stroked down the back, and even to be taken out of the
water by him at any time. And the story goes on to say,
that when the holy man performed any acts of devotion,
his finny friends held up their heads, and seemed quite
sensible of the general purport or object of his worship.4
Nearly the same thing is told in the life of St. Macaise,
who lived in a cell, on the high parts of the Nile. The
fish, in one of the small brooks in the vicinity of his abode,
were observed to display various gesticulations, whenever
he sang his daily hymns.5

In the early periods of the Church, and during the
greater portion of the scholastic ages, fish were con-
sidered the emblems of purity, and free from the general
curse on mankind ; the earth only, not the sea, being de-
nounced for man's transgression. There were, at different
periods in the history of ecclesiastical disputations several
works on this subject, which still remain, however, only in
manuscript, chiefly in the large libraries of the continent,
particularly in Spain and Portugal. There are some
glimpses of this notion of finny purity to be obtained in
some of the Catholic books of discipline ; but the theory
is not very prominently developed, nor the abstract argu-
ments on which it is based, very distinctly stated. As

4 Les Vies des SS. Peres, Amsterdam, folio, 1704.
6 Vies des Peres d' Orient, Bruxelles, 1838.

RELIGION, SUPERSTITION, ETC. 49

far as we have been able to penetrate this curious dis-
cussion, we find that the proofs of this theory are of
two kinds — a priori, and a posteriori stamp. The
main proposition of the first class of a priori arguments
was, that Fish did not stand in the order of creation
in any considerable relation to man, as a social and
domestic being ; — they could not influence his temporal
destiny or happiness in any perceptible degree. They
inhabited altogether a different element from man;
and could in no way come in contact with either his
virtues or vices, his passions or desires. The whole of
animated nature was placed in a different position; a
great portion of animal existence was in direct hostility
to human life and health ; and was ever assuming that
offensive attitude, calculated to remind our race of their
dependant and fallen condition, by the unextinguishable
and mortal enmity which subsisted between it and them.
One of the essential conditions of man's social and
intellectual progress, imposed upon him by the very
necessities of his being, was, the utter and complete
extinction of a great portion of animated life. This was
one of the first and onerous duties he had to perform, —
the primary obstacle which he had to remove from his
path of progression. The general argument on this point
is carried out by some writers with great ingenuity
and dexterity. Indeed, any reader, to whom abstract
speculations of any kind are in some degree familiar,
will readily perceive that the subject opens up a wide

5

50 FISH AND FISHING.

field for the employment of scholastic refinements, and
casuistical subtilty.

The posteriori arguments for the purity of fish, are
mainly derived from the connection of this branch of
animal life with the Gospel history ; with the miracles of
our Saviour with them, and particularly with the broad
fact that several of the Apostles were especially called
from the profession of fishermen, to be the heralds of
happiness and good-will to mankind.6

The peculiar satisfying nature of fish for food was
often treated of by visionaries of the middle ages, by their
making reference to the miracles of the "Loaves and
Fishes," iti the New Testament. In the lives of St,
John the Almoner, St. Colombanus, St. Apollo, St. Elias
the Abbot, St. Hellon, St. Druon, St. Clara, of Assise,
St. Eichard the Bishop, and St. Francis, many remarks
of this kind will be found.7

The Greek word for fish being Ictis, containing initials
emblematical of Christ, fish became a favourite symbol
of the early Christians : fish and the Fesica Piscis, a rough
outline of a fish, was made to enclose the holy symbol.
This image was sculptured upon tombs and sepulchral
urns, as well as upon seals and rings. The Virgin in a
Canopy, or Fesica Piscis round the four Evangelists, is
very common in old churches.

The legend of St Patrick belongs to this class. The

6 Des Questions Curieuses du Moyen Age. Folio, Paris, 1602.

7 See Legends Pieuses du Moyen Age. 2 vols. Lyons, 1787.

RELIGION, SUPERSTITION, ETC. 51

saint having an irresistible desire for some flesh meat, ob-
tained a pine of pork, and hid it. An apparition had its
eyes upon him, and struck him with remorse of conscience.
He repented; and as a proof of his sincere contrition,
an angel turns this pine of pork into fish. There is a
satirical song, written about fifty years ago, by a well-
known angler of Trinity College, Dublin, which we shall
here transcribe.

"No doubt, St. Patrick was an angler

Of credit and renown, sir,
And many shining trout he caught

Ere he built Dublin town, sir.
And story says (it tells no lies)

He fish'd with bait and line, sir,
At every throw he had a bite

Which tugg'd and shook the twine, sir.

" In troubl'd streams he lov'd to fish,

Then salmon could not see, sir 5
The trout and eels, and also pike,

Were under this decree, sir.
And this, perhaps, may solve a point

With other learned matters, sir,
Why Irishmen still love to fish

Among c troubl'd waters,' sir.

" Some likewise say, nay even swear,

He was a goodly saint, sir ;
And made c loose fish J for all the land,
And trout aa red as paint, sir.

52 FISH AND FISHING.

And as a relic of his power

It was his ardent wish, sir,
That dear old Erin should always have

A number of ' odd fish,' sir."

We have a story connected with one of our early
bishops, the Bishop of Chichester, which shows the
common practice of early times, of ascribing miracles to
fish, The first bishop sent from Eome to this part of Eng-
land, seeing the people eat of the sand-eels caught in the sea
near the place, sent information to Rome that here the
people eat serpents. A message was sent back, that if
they would refrain from such a repulsive and heathenish
custom in future, they should be amply supplied with real
fish, and that of the very best quality. They consented; and
the influence of the Holy See was immediately put into
requisition; and a most sumptuous supply of fish was
for a long period most miraculously served out to the
benighted people.8

Sacred fish are still to be found in different parts of
the world. Sir J. Chardin saw, in his travels in the East,
<{ fish confined in the court-yard of a mosque, with rings of
gold, silver, and copper through their muzzles, not for
ornament, but, as I was informed, as a token of their
being consecrated. None dared touch them, such a sacrilege
being supposed to draw after it the vengeance of the saint
to whom they were consecrated, and his votaries, not
content to leave them to his resentment, took upon them-
8 History of Chichester.

RELIGION, SUPERSTITION, ETC. 53

selves to punish transgressors. An Armenian Christian,
who had ventured to take some of these fish, was killed
upon the spot by one of them." Sacred fish also frisk
about, occasionally, in the holy waters of cloistered
monopolists; and Mr Curzon, if we remember rightly,
cites, in his late interesting Visit to the Monasteries in the
Levant, certain fried fish which were wont, to the conster-
nation of strangers and the confirmation of the faithful,
*o make their fitful appearance, and to swim about with
frizzled fins, secure from molestation, in an integument of
sacred batter !

We find among the pious legends of many parts of
France, and particularly in the section of Europe known
under the name of French Flanders, continual allusions
made to the story of Jonah's advent into the whale's belly.
In several of these stories we find long discussions on
what the prophet saw when he was in the deep ; how he
lived, what he thought would become of him, and how
his novel adventure would ultimately terminate. Some
editions of these legends are ornamented with odd and rude
engravings, illustrative of the various imaginary positions
in which the rebellious prophet was placed ere he was
cast on shore again.

The hermit's fish-pond, now remaining in a valley, near
Glastonbury, furnishes the materials of a legendary tale
about fish. In this pond there were three fishes, of which
St. Neot had divine permission to take one, and only one,
every day, with an assurance that the supply should never

54 FISH AND FISHING.

be diminished. Being afflicted with a severe indisposition,
his disciple, Barius, one day caught two fishes, and having
boiled one and broiled the other, placed them before him.
"What hast thou done," exclaimed Neot ; " lo, the favour
of God deserts us ; go instantly and restore these fishes
to the water." While Barius was absent, Neot prostrated
himself in earnest prayer, till he returned with the intelli-
gence that the fishes were disporting in the pool. Barius
again went and took only one fish, of which St. Neot had
no sooner tasted than he was restored to perfect health.9

The address which was made by St. Anthony of Padua
is a striking example of the veneration with which fish
were invested in the eyes of the Church. We are told, in
his life, that when the heretics would not attend his
councils, that he betook himself to the sea-shore, where
the river Marechia disembogues itself into the Adriatic
Sea. He here called the fish together in the name of God
that they might hear His holy word. The fish came
swimming towards him in such vast shoals, both from
the sea and from the river, that the surface of the
water was quite covered with their number. They
quickly ranged themselves, according to their several
species, into a very beautiful congregation, and, like so
many rational creatures, presented themselves before him
to hear the word of God. St. Anthony was so struck
with the miraculous submission and obedience of these
poor animals, that he found a secret sweetness distilling

9 History of St. Neot's, by the Kcv. G-. C. Gorham.

RELIGION, SUPERSTITION, ETC. 55

upon his soul, and at last addressed himself to them in
the following words : —

" My dearly beloved Pish. — Although the infinite power
and providence of God discovers itself in all the works of
creation, as in the heavens, in the sun, in the moon, and
in the stars, — in this lower world, in man, and in other
perfect creatures ; nevertheless, the goodness of the Divine
Majesty shines in you more eminently, and appears after
a more particular manner than in any other created
beings. For, notwithstanding you are comprehended
under the name of reptiles, partaking of a middle nature
between stones and beasts, and imprisoned in the deep
abyss of waters ; notwithstanding you are lost among
billows, thrown up and down tempests, deaf to hearing,
dumb to speech, and terrible to behold ; notwithstanding,
I say, these natural disadvantages, the Divine Greatness
shows itself in you after a very wonderful manner. In
you are seen the mighty mysteries of Infinite Goodness.
The Holy Scripture has always made use of you as the
types and shadows of some profound sacrament.

" Do you think that, without mystery, the first present
that God Almighty made to man, was of you, O ye
fishes ? Do you think that without a mystery, among
all creatures and animals which were appointed for sacri-
fices, you only were accepted, 0 ye fishes ? Do you think
there was nothing meant by our Saviour Christ, that next
to the Paschal lamb he took so much pleasure in the good

56 FISH AND FISHING.

of you, O ye Jishes? Do you think it was by mere
chance, that when the Redeemer of the world was to pay
a tribute to Caesar, he thought fit to find it in the mouth
of a fish ? These are, all of them, so many mysteries and
sacraments, that oblige you in a more particular manner
to the praises of your Creator.

" It is from God, my beloved fish, that you have
received being, life, motion, and sense. It is He that has
given you, in compliance with your usual inclinations, the
whole world of waters for your habitation. It is He that
has furnished it with lodgings, chambers, caverns, grottoes,
and such magnificent retirements as are not to be met
with in the seats of kings or in the palaces of princes.
You have the water for your dwelling, a clear transparent
element, brighter than crystal ; you can see from its bot-
tom everything that passes on its surface ; you have the
eyes of the Lynx, or of an Argus ; you are guided by a
secret and unerring principle, delighting in every thing
that may be beneficial to you, and avoiding every thing
that may be hurtful to you ; you are carried on by a
hidden instinct to preserve yourselves, and to propagate
your species ; you obey, in all your actions, walks and
motions, the dictates and suggestions of nature, without
the least repugnancy or contradiction.

"The colds of winter and the heats of summer are
equally incapable of molesting you. A serene or a
clouded sky are indifferent to you. Let the earth abound
in fruits, or be. cursed with scarcity, it has no influence

RELIGION, SUPERSTITION, ETC. 57

over your welfare. You live secure in rains and thunders,
lightnings and earthquakes ; you have no concern in the
blossoms of spring, or in the glowings of summer ; in the
fruits of autumn, or in the frost of winter. You are not
solicitous about hours or days, months or years ; the vari-
ableness of the weather, or the change of seasons.

" In what dreadful majesty, in what wonderful power,
in what amazing providence, did God Almighty distin-
guish you among all the species of creatures that
perished in the universal deluge ! You only were in-
sensible of the mischief that had laid waste the whole
world.

" All this, I have already told you, ought to inspire you
with gratitude and praise towards the Divine Majesty,
that has done so great things for you, granted such parti-
cular graces and privileges, and heaped upon you so many
distinguished favours. And since for all this you cannot
employ your tongues in the praise of your Benefactor, and
are not provided with words to express your gratitude ;
make at least some sign of reverence ; bow yourselves at
His name ; give some show of gratitude according to the
best of your capacities ; express your thanks in the most
becoming manner that you are able ; and be not unmind-
ful of all the benefits He has bestowed upon you."

We are told that St. Anthony had no sooner left off
speaking than the fish, as though they were endued with

58 FISH AND FISHING.

reason, bowed down their heads with all the marks of
profound humility and devotion, moving their bodies up
and down with a kind of fondness, as approving what
had been spoken by the holy father. The legend adds,
that after many heretics, who were present at the miracle
had been converted by it, the saint gave his benediction to
the fish, and dismissed^them.

The fine picture of St. Anthony of Padua, preaching
to the fish is by Salvator Eosa, and is in the collection
at Althorp House, Northamptonshire. Lady Morgan
describes a picture in the Borghese Palace at Borne,
which represents St. Anthony delivering his sermon.. Her
ladyship says, — " The salmon look at the preacher with an
edified face, and a cod, with his upturned eyes, seems
anxiously looking for the new light."

But Catholic writers have not been the only ones who
have descanted on the subject of Jonah's adventure into
the whale. We find Protestant writers treating of the
same theme, and after a very odd and whimsical manner
too. About two hundred years ago, the Rev. Zachary
Boyd, a very pious divine of Glasgow, left all his property
and manuscripts to the University of that city. These
manuscripts consisted of poetical paraphrases, on various
topics of bible history. Among the number is the ac-
count of Jonah's adventure. The reverend divine here
allows his imagination full swing ; and scarcely anything
can exceed the whimsical grotesqueness with which he

RELIGION, SUPERSTITION, ETC. 59

clothes the scripture narrative. The following lines will
afford a specimen of the book : —

" What house is this ? here 's neither coal nor candle ;
"Where I have nothing but guts of fish to handle.
I and my table are both here within,
Where day ne'er dawned, where sun did never shine.
The like of this on earth man never saw,
A living man within a monster's maw !
Buried under mountains which are high and steep,
Plunged under waters hundred fathoms deep.
Not so was Noah in his house of tree,
For through a window he the light did see ;
He sailed above the highest waves ; a wonder !
I and my boat are all the waters under !
He and his ark might go and also come ;
But I sit still in such a straightened room
As is most uncouth ; head and feet together,
Among such grease as would a thousand smother,
Where I, entombed, in melancholy sink,
Choked, suffocate with excremental stink."

The legend of the fish and the ring, is very common,
and supposed to be of great antiquity. The classical tale
of Poly crates, related by Herodotus, is perhaps the oldest
version of it. The Koran of Mahomet mentions the
ring. " Solomon intrusted his signet with one of his
concubines, which the devil obtained from her, and sat on
the throne in Solomon's shape. After forty days the
devil departed, and threw the ring into the sea. The
signet was swallowed by a fish, which, being caught and

60 FISH AND FISHING.

given to Solomon, the ring was found in its belly, and-
thus he recovered his kingdom." lo

"The legend of the fish and the ring/' says Dr.
Dibdin, " is extant in well nigh every class-book in Scot-
land : old Spotswood is among the earliest historians who
garnished up the dish from the Latin monastic legend.
They report of St. Kentigern, the first Bishop of Glas-
gow, that a lady of good place in the country having lost
her ring as she crossed the river Clyde, and her husband
waxing jealous, as if she had bestowed the same on one
of her lovers, she did mean herself unto Kentigern, entreat-
ing his help for the safety of her honour , and that he,
going to the river after he had used his devotion, willed
one who was making to fish to bring the first that he
caught, which was done. In the mouth of this fish he
found the ring, and sending it to the lady, she was thereby
freed of her husband's suspicions. The creed of this I
believe, upon the reporters ; but however it be, the See
and the City of Glasgow do both of them bear in their
arms a fish with a ring in its mouth, even to this day."

The well-known momument on the walls of Stepney
Church bears a shield of arms, commemorative of a
tradition, that the Lady Berry, in whose memory the
monument was erected, was the heroine of " the Cruel
Knight, or Fortunate Farmer's Daughter," a once popular
ballad, the scene of which was laid in Yorkshire. It

10 Sale's Koran.

RELIGION, SUPERSTITION, ETC. 61

describes a ring thrown into the river, and restored by
means of a fish.

The FISH and the BING with the EPITAPH, outside the
east end of STEPNEY CHURCH.

Here lieth interred the body of DAME EEBECCA BEEEY,

the Wife of THOMAS ELTON, of Stratford,

Bow,11 Gent, who departed this Life

April 26th, 1696, aged 52.

" COME ladies, you that wou'd appear
Like angels fair, come dress you here 5
Come, dress you at this marble stone,
And make that humble grace your own,
Which once adorn' d as fair a mind
As e'er yet lodg'd in woman kind.
So she was dress' d, whose humble life
Was free from pride, was free from strife,
Free from all envious brawls and jars,
Of human life the civil wars ;
They ne'er disturb' d her peaceful mind,
Which still was gentle, still was kind.
Her very looks, her garb, her mien
Disclos'd the humble soul within.
Trace her through every scene of life,
View her as widow, virgin, wife,

Still the same she appears,

The same in youth, the same in years,

The same in low and high estate,

Ne'er vex'd with this, nor mov'd with that.

11 Stratford-le-Bow is in the Hamlet of Stepney.

6

62 FISH AND FISHING.

Go ladies now, and if you'd be ^

As fair, as great, as good as she,

Go learn of her humility." J

A fish on which the University of Cambridge was in the
habit of using on religious feasts, gave rise to the tract
entitled 'Vox Piscis ; or the Book of Pish;' containing,
it was alleged, three treatises found in the belly of a Cod-
fish in Cambridge Market, at Midsummer in 1626. This
fish, it was said, was caught at Lynn-deeps, carried to the
Vice-Chancellor by the Beadle, on the discovery being
duly made that it had three written treatises in its belly.

Akin to this story is the one well known about the
shark that swallowed a log -book thrown overboard by a
pirate, and afterwards rapaciously took the first hook that
offered, and turned King's evidence, so as to hang the
villain by the revelation of the said document — the log-
book in his inside !

The same religious notions attached to fishes were
transferred to the waters they inhabited. The Celtic race
in the Highlands of Scotland refrained entirely from the
use of fish, on account of their veneration for springs of
water. The following observations appeared in the pe-
riodical called 'Notes and Queries,' for December 1853,
in reference to the superstitious ideas formerly entertained
about rivers, &c.

" Ancient hallowed Dee. — What is the historical, tradi-
tional, or legendary allusion in this epithet, bestowed by
Milton on the river Dee ?— J. W. T.
Dewsbury.

RELIGION, SUPERSTITION, ETC. 63

" [Dee's divinity was Druidical. From the same super-
stition, some rivers in Wales are still held to have the
gift or virtue of prophecy. Giraldus Cambrensis, who
wrote in 1188, is the first who mentions Dee's sanctity
from the popular traditions. In Spenser, this river is the
haunt of magicians :

c Dee, which Britons long ygone
Did call DIVINE.'

And Browne, in his Britannia's Pastorals, book ii, sec. 5,

* Never more let HOLT Dee,
Ore other rivers brave,' &c.

Much superstition was founded on the circumstance of its
being the ancient boundary between England and Wales ;
and Drayton, in his tenth song, having recited this part
of its history, adds, that by changing its fords it foretold
good or evil, war or peace, dearth or plenty, to either
country. He then introduces the Dee, over which King
Edgar had been rowed by eight kings, relating to the
story of Brutus. See more on this subject in Warton's
note to line 55, in Milton's Lycidas :

'Now yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream.']"

In the great tempest that destroyed the dykes in
Holland, in the year 1430, there was taken at Edam, in
West Friezeland, a large fish, supposed of the salmon
species, which, not only lived many years on land, but

64 FISH AND FISHING.

was actually tamed and rendered somewhat intelligent.
It was taken home by some very pious woman, and
learned to speak the Dutch language. Parival says, " it
had some notion of a deity, and made its reverences very
devoutly when it passed a crucifix." It was taken to
some neighbonring town, but always shewed a longing for
the water. At its death it was allowed Christian burial.
In the early part of the reign of James I, the art of
Angling was often spiritualized, both in sermons, and in
serious moral essays. We have Samuel Gardiner, a
Doctor of Divinity, writing a book on fishing, " Wherein
is shewed, by conference with Scriptures, the agreement
betweene the fishermen, fishes, and fishing of both natures,
temporall and spirituall." His text is from Matthew, iv, 19.
" I will make you fishers of men." This was printed
in 1606, and is dedicated to " Sir Harrie Gaudie, Sir
Miles Corbet, Sir Hamond Le Strange, Sir Henry Spelman,
knights, my verie kind friends." Kawling's sermon,
preached at Mercer's Chapel, " Fishermen Fishers of
men," 1609, is well known. In 1615, we find a Dr.
Turnbull preaching a sermon, afterwards printed, in which
he draws a parallel between the method of angling, and
the mode in which the devil seduces people into the com-
mission of crime. The preacher says: "The devil is an
arch fisherman. He troubleth the waters — maketh them
thick and puddley, that his poor blind captives may not
see the baites he is going to trouble them with. He
throws in among the passions of men, his ground or

RELIGION, SUPERSTITION, ETC. 65

bottom baites, and his lures, and his artifices ; and when
his simple fish are sailing about them, they, thinking all
is right and safe, swallow the sweet morsels, and are thus
chucked out of this life, and thrust into his fishing
basket — the great bottomless pit ! "

In 1665, we have the Hon. Eobert Boyle's work
'Angling improved to Spiritual Uses,' which contains
likewise observations " Upon Pishing with a counterfeit

%."

We find that the celebrated John Bunyan did not let
the profession of the angler escape from giving it a
spiritual application. He says : —

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

In one of James Hogg's Lay Sermons we have an
allusion to fish. The following words constitute the text :
"There be three things for which the earth is disquieted,
yea, for four which it cannot bear. For a servant when
he reigneth, and a fool when he is filled with drink ; for
an odious woman when she is married, and a handmaid
that is heir to her mistress."

After a few introductory observations, the Ettrick

M

66 FISH AND PISHING.

Shepherd goes on to illustrate his subject in the following
fashion. I was once in a remote loch in Appin, and in the
burn that ran from it ; when I remarked to my associate,
who was a stern Radical — rather a stern character among
the Stuarts of Appin, —

" Is it not a strange thing, Mr. Stuart, that if the small
fishes begin to rise at the fly, as they are doing to-day, it
is very rare that you ever raise a large one ; and on the
contrary, if the large ones begin to rise, you never raise a
small one ? "

" It is very true," said he ; " and I have noted it in
all my life."

" So have I," returned I ; " but to assign any specious
reason for it is beyond my capacity."

" 0 ! what is it, sir ; said he, " but a species of that
detestable tyranny which pervades all nature, — the rich
always lording it over the poor, and the strong over the
weak? But, then, a secondary power is always more
arbitrary than a first ; for you will observe, that when
the salmon are astir and rising, the little fishes rise
fearlessly likewise : but when the secondary sort are upon
the look-out, they hide themselves, and not one of them
is to be seen."

His theory is nonsense as far as regards the fishes ;
nevertheless the illustration is true, but must depend on
the lens of the eyes in small and large fishes, and likewise
those of a medium power. However, among mankind,
there is not the least doubt that a delegated power is

RELIGION, SUPERSTITION, ETC. 67

always more tyrannically used and worse borne than one
descending from the immediate head; so that a servant
when he reigneth is really one of the things, as Agur saith,
which the earth cannot, or can hardly, bear.

* # * #
Secondly, a summer angler is rather a dangerous visitor,

particular if he have his fishing rod in a waterproof bag,
and a new basket on his back, rather well stuffed with
clean shirts and stockings. Be sure to observe his feet.
If he have on fine boots or shoes, you may note him
down as a fool and a ninny ; if he have good strong neat's-
leather shoes, well shod with iron, you may mark him
down as a customer. Many such have I been saddled
with, not for days, but weeks at a time. But really, if
it were not that they are all such potent eaters and terrible
drinkers, they are generally rather fine fellows. A man
can hardly be fond of rural sports without having some
good-humoured and amiable qualities. It is only the
frequency and length of their visits, else they could not be
accounted one of the evils under the sun. I suppose there
was no angling in Jordan ; therefore Agur could not be
expected to include this among his intolerable things.

* # * *
Fourthly, the misery in these two last cases is reci-
procal; for before a genteel townsman would see a
countryman, who had been kind to him, and entertained
him in his peregrinations, approach his elegant habitation,
" he would see the deil puling heather," as John Brunton.

68 FISH AND FISHING.

said to the minister. The farmer goes to Edinburgh to
transact some business ; perhaps to sell some sheep, or
take off his smearing materials, and expects the warmest
reception from the gentleman to whom he was so kind,
and who had so often invited him. But he is rather asto-
nished at his reception. The gentleman stares him hi
the face, with his mouth ready to speak, but utters not
a word, until the farmer, giving him a nod meant for a
bow, says, ef How's a'w'ye the day, sir ? I'm thinkin'
ye hae forgotten me an' the simmer pool ?"

" Oh ! how d'ye do ? Yery glad to see you — very glad
indeed — and looking so well too ! All well at home I
hope ? you will take something to drink ?

" Naw, I thank ye ; I'll no tak naething e'en now till
after."

" Better ! When shall our sport in your streams begin ?
What glorious streams they are ! Well, I'm sorry I am
so particularly engaged to-day. Good bye. Compliments
to all at home. Good bye."

Verily, this is a great evil — yea, it is a sore travail.

QUALITIES AND VIRTUES OF FISH. 69

CHAPTER IV.

On the various opinions on the virtues and effects of Fish, as
articles of Food, and, likewise, on their Medicinal Qualities
and Virtues.

. WE beg to premise that the contents of this chapter
may possibly present, to many readers, a somewhat desul-
tory and unconnected form ; but the chief reason for this
is, that the materials themselves are of so varied, acci-
dental, and apocryphal a character, that they cannot be
reduced to any formal or general rules. There is a multi-
tude of opinions, surmises, statements and facts, scattered
over more than two score of centuries, and appertaining
to various nations ; and to make the entire mass as pleasant
reading as possible, it is requisite we should take them in
a promiscuous order, and not attempt to burden the
judgment with what can scarcely be brought within its
province.

This is a somewhat curious chapter in the history of
angling writings, both in Great Britain and on the
Continent, relative to the supposed medicinal virtues
and fancied charms attributed to particular kinds and
parts of fish. What could have led the human mind
into this direction it is difficult to conjecture. The sub-
ject has never been attempted to be accounted for on

70 EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL

abstract or philosophical principles. One of the motives
or causes of the absurd and superstitious notions and
practices alluded to, seems to have probably had its rise
from the fact that fish inhabit an element which shuts
them out, comparatively speaking, from all human inves-
tigation as to their habits and modes of life. There
is something obviously suggestive of mysteriousness con-
nected with this circumstance. The finny tribes do not
come in direct contact with man, like terrestrial animals.
The powers of procreation, movements, and instincts
generally, of the inhabitants of the deep are in great
measure hidden from actual observation, and the element
they live in has, besides, in its own nature, something
awful and impressive, to the rude and uncultivated
imaginations of men. The irresistible and impetuous
torrent is invested with a power which strikes the mind
with fear ; and its natural hostility to the mind of man
gives additional impressiveness to its movements. Even
the most cultivated and enlightened mind feels an awful
grandeur in the contemplation of moving waters, and it is
chiefly this circumstance that has led untutored man in all
ages and countries to people the banks of streams with
divinities, fairies, and genii. There must have been a
portion of this impressiveness and • mysteriousness carried
to the account of the animated beings that inhabit the
great abyss of waters, and the natural bias given to the
mind to consider everything connected with such an ele-
ment as possessing virtues which do not generally belong

QUALITIES AND VIRTUES OF FISH. 71

to objects and animals more directly open to observation
and control.

It may, likewise, be worthy perhaps of remark, that
the connection subsisting between Christianity and angling
may have added a portion of strength as to the
natural feelings respecting waters and their inhabitants.
The apostles come to us as the poor ^fishermen of Galilee,
having their distinct calling, of an interesting and mo-
mentous character, connected with movements of waters
and the taking of fish. These circumstances may not
have been altogether inoperative in the middle ages,
when science and investigation lay as it were asleep, and
inquiries into the operations of nature were by no means
common.

Ancient writers mention that whole nations of mankind
subsisted entirely upon fish. Herodotus gives us an ac-
count of the Ichthyophagi, a people of this kind. See
likewise on the point Pliny, 9 ; Strabo, Geogr. 15 ;
Diodorus Siculus, 4, 15; Ptolemeeus, Geogr. 4 ; Arria-
nus, in Indicis ; Solinus, Polyhistor, 65 ; Philostratus, in
Vita Appolonii, 3. The description of these nations by
Diodorus is, that the simplicity of this fish diet preserved
them free from diseases, but that they were short-lived.
A very interesting account of the fish-eaters on the bor-
ders of the Bed Sea is given by Agatharides (Ap Photium).
Pliny states that fish was the food of a large section of his
countrymen, Eustathius says that in the heroic ages,
fish were seldom eaten but in cases of want. They were

72 EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL

generally very high-priced in Greece. In the luxurious
days of the Eomans they were esteemed as excessive
rarities ; as may be learned from Horace, Juvenal, and
Martial.

Hippocrates gives us a detailed account of the dietetical

qualities of fish. Speaking generally, he says, fish of all

kinds are light food, both when boiled and roasted — by

themselves or when used with other food. Celsus ranks

fish among those things which hold an intermediate place

between articles of a strong and of a weak nature.

Plutarch mentions, that, in his opinion, fish can be much

more easily digested than flesh. The qualities of the

finny race are largely treated of by Athenseus (Deipnos, 8).

He tells us, on the authority of Siphnian Diphilus, that

of sea fish, those which live among rocks are of easy

digestion, contain good juices, are detergent, light, and

afford little nourishment ; and that those which inhabit

the depths of the sea are difficult to digest, are very

nutritious, and are of slow assimilation. Galen says, that

fishes which live in the marshes, lakes, and muddy waters,

are the worst species of human sustenance, because they are

little exercised in swimming, and have impure food. He

farther tells us that such fish as live in the depths of the

sea are almost free from fault as aliment, for they are

more wholesome and delicious than any of the other

kinds. The characteristics of good fish, he adds, are, that

they have no offensive smell, have little fat, and keep sweet

for a considerable time.

QUALITIES AND VIRTUES OF FISH. 73

A Fragment of Xenocrates, recently published, with
learned notes, by Dr. Coray, of Paris, gives a full account
of fish as an article of food. He says that roasted fish
are more nutritious than boiled, but more difficult of
evacuation ; and that sea-fish are savoury, agree with the
stomach, are of easy digestion, form proper blood, impart
a good colour to the skin, and clear the bowels. Such as
live in rivers and lakes, he adds, are generally bad for the
stomach, form thick juices, and are of difficult evacuation.
The parts near the tail of all kinds of fish are the most
wholesome, on account of their being most exercised.
The writings of Oribasius on the subject are mostly copied
from Xenocrates. The Dissertation of Aetius on the same
topic is full, but displays nothing of any original value.

Actuarius wrote upon the subject, and observes that
fishes which live in waters near the shore, and among
rocks, the larger supply much nourishment, and of a thick
and nutritious nature; and the smaller kinds little
nourishment, of a pure nature. The observations of
Simeon are chiefly copied from Galen. Alexander Aphrodi-
siensis enters upon the question why rock fish are
peculiarly excellent, and solves the question by saying
it is because the water about rocks is constantly in motion,
which keeps the fishes in it continually in exercise.
Khases states that sea and river fish are the best for
human diet, which have rough scales, are mucilaginous, and
are naturally of a white colour. He thinks those of black
or red colour should not be used. He also adds, that all

7

74 EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL

fish remain in the stomach undigested. The Arabian
writer on the subject, Haly Abbas, does little more than
make an abridgment from Galen.

The brine of pickled fish was considered a powerful
calefacient and desiccative, and was externally applied to
putrid ulcers, and administered as an injection in dysentery
and ischiatic diseases. (Geopon., xx, 46 ; Pliny, Hist.
Nat. xxxi, 43 ; Athenaeus, Deipnos. 2 ; and Apicius, c. 7.)
Sauce prepared by macerating the intestines of the tunny
fish was particularly esteemed; and Caelius Aurelianus
praises a sauce made in the same manner from the salurus.
Dioscorides recommends the sauce of pickled fish as a
cataplasm to persons bitten by mad dogs, and as an
injection in sciatica (lib. ii, 34). The same thing is
mentioned by the Arabian physicians, Avicenna and
Serapion ; and Ae'tius, Celsus, and Hippocrates speak on
the subject in the same decided manner.

The flesh of the legless lobster, when triturated and
drunk with the root of bryony, kills and eradicates lurn-
brici. Dioscorides prescribes the ashes of the river-crab
in cases of hydrophobia, and as an application in fissures
in the feet and arms, chilblains, and cancers. He likewise
says it is an antidote against the bite of all venomous
animals. Galen treats fully of the same thing for hydro-
phobia (book 5). Avicenna and Ehases prescribe the flesh
of the river-crab, mixed with milk, as highly beneficial
in cases of consumption.

Celsus prescribes the soup of muscles as an excellent

QUALITIES AND VIRTUES OF FISH. 75

purgative in fevers. Dioscorides recommends them to be
externally applied as a stimulant and detergent application
in diseases of the eyes, and their flesh for the bites of mad
dogs. The Arabian writers speak likewise of their medi-
cinal qualities. The Silurus or Shad fish, when pickled
and eaten, clears the trachea when in a humid state ; and
cataplasm made of it, extracts sharp weapons of wood
from the body. Dioscorides recommends it, and the
Arabian Ebn Baithar gives a full account of its many
medicinal virtues, both from Greek writers and those of
his own country.

Eels were denounced by Hippocrates to all his patients,
and particularly to those afflicted with pulmonary affec-
tions. The conger eel is considered by Galen as hard
and indigestible.

The Salmon is not mentioned by any Greek author. It is
noticed in Pliny's Natural History (9, 12) ; and the first
account we have of it in any Latin classic author is con-
tained in the Mosella of Ausonius. Here we have the
three progressive stages in the growth of the salmon.
The salar is the sea-trout, the fario is what in Scotland
is called the grilse, and the salmo is the full-grown fish.
Of the salmon, the poet says, —

" Tu loricate squamosus pectore, frontem
Lubricus, et dubiee facturus fercula csense,
Tempora longarum fers incorrupte morarum,
Preesignis maculis capitis j cui prodiga nutat
Alvus, opiinatoque fluens abdomiue venter/'

76 EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL

The sea -trout is described in the following line :
" Purpureisque salar stellatus tergora guttis."

Some particular fish were highly extolled by the
ancients for their gastronomic qualities. The rhombus
was esteemed a remarkable delicacy. In the fourth satire
of Juvenal, a ludicrous importance is given to the capture
of one, by the flatterers of Domitian. It is mentioned by
Horace and Martial. Athenseus calls it sweet and nutri-
tious. It is generally considered as the species of the
turbot. The mullet is mentioned by Horace as a rare
delicacy of great price. See likewise Juvenal (Sat. iv, 15) ;
Martial (Xenia, 74); and Macrobius (Saturnal. iii, 16).
Galen tells us that its liver, prepared with wine and oil,
was esteemed a peculiar delicacy.

The murene was eagerly sought after by the epicures of
Koine. Pliny, Martial, and Macrobius tell us that those
from Sicily were esteemed the best. Icesius says, it is
as luscious and savoury as the eel, and calls it " the Helen
of suppers." It is related of Yedius Pollio that he
fed his murenes with the bodies of condemned slaves.
L. Crassus, the orator, put on mourning clothes for the
death of a murene.

Our common gudgeon was the first fish, in point of
rarity and delicacy, presented at the rich banquets of the
Yenetians (Xenia, Ep. 83j. Juvenal speaks of it as being
of little value. Galen says it is delicious, digestible, and
wholesome, especially when taken in waters having a stony
or rocky bed. Seth and Diphilus say, that when the flesh

QUALITIES AND VIRTUES OP FISH. 77

of the gudgeon is white, it is then in its most tender and
digestible state. The Capros or carp, is called by Arches-
tratus, " The flower of nectar." (Athemeus, Diepnos, 7).

Fresh and salt fish were the principal articles of diet with
the Hellenes; and we find Aristophanes and Athenaeus
alluding to the circumstance in many parts of their writ-
ings, accompanied with many bitter sarcasms and jeers,
on account of their passionate attachment to the mullet,
the scar, and the turbot.

Lucian has many witty jokes at the expense of a
philosopher of his day who instituted an inquiry into the
soul of an oyster ! l

Philoxenes of Cythera being informed by his medical
man that he was in a fair way of killing himself by his
excessive indulgence in a most delicious food, said ; " Be
it so ; but before I go, allow me to finish the remainder."2

Rhases and Magninus express themselves unfavourable
as to fish diet, and maintain that it breeds viscosities, and a
slimy state of the humours, and contains but a very limited
portion of real nourishment. Savanarola says, fish are cold,
moist, and phlegmatic food, and consequently unwholesome
for all cold and melancholy temperaments. Some authors
make a distinction, however, among the finny tribes ;
recommending some, and excluding others, such as eels,
tench, lampreys, crawfish, and such as are bred in muddy
and stagnant waters, and have a muddy and earthy taste.
Franciscus Eonsuetus poetically describes these :

1 Lucian, Bion Praxis. 2 Athen. vii, 20.

78 EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL

" Nam pisces omnes, qui stagna, lacusque frequentant,
Semper plus succi deterioris habent."3

" All fish that standing pools and lakes frequent
Do ever yield bad juice and nourishment."

Lampreys, Paulus Jovius, c. 34, de piscibus fluvial.,
highly magnifies, and saith, None speak against them, but
infpti et scrupulosi, some scrupulous persons : but eels,
c. 33, "he abhorreth in all places, at all times, all physicians
detest them, especially about the solstice." Gomesius,
lib. 1, c.22/tfe sale, doth immoderately extol sea-fish, which
others as much vilify, and above the rest, dried, soused,
indurate fish, as ling, fumados, red-herrings, sprats?
sleek-fish, haberdine, poor-John, all shell-fish. Tim.
Bright excepts lobster and crab. Messarius commends
salmon, which Bruerinus contradicts, lib. 22, c. 17.
Magninus rejects conger, sturgeon, turbot, mackerel, skate.

" Carp is a fish of which I know not what to determine.
Franciscus Bonsuetus accounts it a muddy fish. Hippo-
litus Salvianus, in his Book de Piscium naturd et prcepa-
ratione, which was printed at Rome in folio, 1554, with
most elegant pictures, esteems carp no better than a slimy
watery meat. Paulus Jovius on the other side, disallowing
tench, approves of it ; so doth Dubravius in his books of
Fish-ponds. Freitagius extols it for an excellent whole-
some meat, and .puts it amongst the fishes of the best
rank; and so do most of our country gentlemen that

3 Lib. De Aquatilibus.

QUALITIES AND VIRTUES OF FISH. 79

store their ponds with no other fish. But this controversy
is easily decided, in my judgment, by Bruerinus. 1. 22,
c. 13. The difference riseth from the site and nature of
pools, sometimes muddy, sometimes sweet ; they are in
taste as the place is from whence they be taken. In like
manner almost we may conclude of other fresh fish. But
see more in llondoletius, Bellonius, Oribasius, lib. 7, cap.
22, Isaac, 1. 1, especially Hippolitus Salvianus, who is
instar omnium solus, &c. Howsoever they may be whole-
some and approved, much use of them is not good ;
P. Forestus, in his medicinal observations, relates, that
Carthusian friars, whose living is most part fish, are more
subject to melancholy than any other order, and that he
found by experience, being sometimes their physician
ordinary at Delft, in Holland. He exemplifies it with an
instance of one Buscodnese, a Carthusian of a ruddy
colour, and well liking, that by solitary living, and fish-
eating, became so misaffected."4

The Romans had a great fondness for the art of angling,
both with the net and line ; but fishes were not anciently
eaten, says Plutarch, from superstitious motives, and from
reverence for springs, &c. The Meatse, or Northern
Britons, according to Xiphiline, abstained from fish. It
would be idle therefore to look for fishing among the
Celtic Britons, and eels excepted, the art was introduced
by Wilfrid. The Anglo-Saxons eat various fish ; chiefly

4 Burton, p. 344.

80 EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL

eels ; even dolphins and porpoises, which they caught by
net or hook. A sea-fisher was an officer in the household
of Edward. III.5

Johannes de Mediolanus, or John of Milan, wrote
a work in 1099, called the Regimen Sanitates Salerni,
translated by Dr. Holland, in which we have the following
advice about fish.

" The fish of soft and biggest body take,
If hardened little, do not them forsake,
Pike, perch, and sole are known for daintie fish,
The whiting also is a courtly dish :
Tench, gurnard, and a well-grown plaice in May,
Carp, rochet, trout, these are good meat I say,
Among our fish the pike is king of all,
In water none is more tyrannical.
Who knows not physic, should be nice and choice
In eating eeles, because they hurt the voice ;
Both eeles and cheese, without good store of wine
Well drunk with them, offends at any time."

Among the Eastern nations it is a common medical
prescription to take the eggs of scates, after being held
over burning coals, and inhaled by the mouth and nostrils,
as an infallible remedy for an intermittent fever. — Buffon.

Diacles, the Greek physician, considered the flesh of the
perch as an excellent restorative to convalescents of all
kinds . — Atlienaus.

The conger-eel was offered to Neptune and his divine
colleagues, as being capable of bestowing immortality on
5 Turner's Anglo-Saxons.

QUALITIES AND VIRTUES OF FISH. 81

those who had the good fortune of tasting them ; and it
was even considered that the dead would have returned
to life again if it had been possible for them to have
tasted a morsel of this delicious fish. — Macrobius.

Eude, who was French cook to Louis XVI, in a Cookery
Eook he has published, gives the following inhuman
process for cooking a dish of eels.

" Take (says he) one or two live eels, throw them into
the fire ; as they are twisting about on all sides, lay hold
of them with a towel in your hand, and skin them from
head to tail. This method is decidedly the best, as it is
the means of drawing out all the oil, which is unpalatable.
Note. — Several gentleman have accused me of cruelty
[astonishing !] for recommending in my work that eels
should be burnt alive. As my knowledge in cookery is
entirely devoted to the gratification of their taste, and
preservation of their health, I consider it my duty to
attend to what is essential to both. The blue skin and
the oil which remain when they are skinned are highly
indigestible. If any lady or gentleman should make
the trial of both, they will find that the burnt ones are
much healthier ; but it is after all left to their choice
whether to burn or skin."

Fat salmon was a very favourite dish in the middle ages.
It was divided into joles, &c., as now, broiled, salted,
pickled, and served in various forms ; a sort of pickled
salmon, called Ysitius, was eaten by our Anglo-Saxon
ancestors.

82 EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL

In George Wither' s Britains Remembrancer , published
in London, in 1628, containing a Narrative of the Plague,
present mischiefs, and judgment to come, we find the
following lines : —

" For if the heart and liver of a fish
(Burnt by young Tobit in a chafendish)
A spirit from his chamber could expeD,
They hoped these might purge ill ayres, as well." 6

Soles were considered most delicious food among the
Greek gastronomes. We shall make no apology for
quoting again from a recent writer on this subject.7 He
says, " No fish in the ancient world was better known, or
in a higher repute than this. It was the subject of a
Greek myth, evrpofog and rjdve, nutritious and delicate,
were the epithets currently applied to it, and one Greek in
particular describes the species as the best of flat-fish ;
the highest praise, since these were considered quite the
pisci nobili of the market, and equivalent to saying they
were best of the best. Soles were served then, as now-
a-days, fried, afovTtQ, when their size admitted it : —

* The cook produced an ample dish
Of frizzled soles, those best of fish,
Embrowned, and wafting through the room,
All sputtering still a rich perfume.'

" They were also served in a savoury sauce under the
name of Citharus. Archestratus orders some for an

6 Page 46.

7 Frazer's Magazine, December, 1853.

QUALITIES AND VIRTUES OF FISH. 83

amateur (Cithari sciens) with an exceedingly rich compost
of cheese and oil, which makes them, he says, exquisite
'aVi fo aKoXaorot.' Epicharmus produces soles among
the dishes served at Hebe's nuptials ; and Archestratus,
in his poem, Hedypathy, f Good cheer/ considers that they
can hardly be served too elaborately ; though it is not
likely the ancients ever hit upon the most dainty and
complex of recipes, the French sole, e en matelotte nor-
mande* the bare recollection of the taste of which lingers,
we must say, after years' desuetude, agreeably on our palate
still; that the larger specimens were sometimes served
plain boiled, in preference to any other more elaborate
mode of cooking, is highly probable, since a doughty
Greek authority pronounces that, for an easy digestion,
there is no way of serving fish so good as au naturel.
Though these fish were generally in high repute, yet their
reputation varied with the species, and with the locality
from which they came; even in our own island, how
different in respect to quality are soles fetched from
different districts. When Galen, Xenocrates, and Diphilus
speak disparagingly of soles, we must suppose them
either to have been sadly warped by some caprice of fashion,
or else very unfortunate in their supplies ; and it was no
doubt a feeling of the injustice of such a censure passed
on his favourite food, which extorted the complaint from
a Greek connoisseur, e everything is censured in turn, and
now they tell me, but I will never believe it, that there
is imperfection even in a sole ! ' J

84 EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL

In treatises on angling and fish in the sixteenth, seven-
teenth, and eighteenth centuries, we find many curious
and scattered remarks on the medicinal properties of the
finny race. Caspar Schwenkfeld, in his Therio Tro-
ph&um Silesia, says, " all fish, by reason of the nature
and custom of the elements from which they have sprung
and derive their virtue, and on account of their cold and
gelatinous nature, are very difficult of digestion. They
likewise generate cold and phlegmatic blood, from whence
many similar grievous disorders date their origin ; for
they weaken the nerves, and prepare them for paralysis ;
and as they injure the more cold and damp stomachs, so,
on the contrary, they greatly benefit the more bilious and
warm."

In the Histoire des Poissons, Paris, 1585, we find,
that the liver of the sturgeon, when steeped in cold water
for a length of time, was an effectual remedy for cramps
in the stomach. It is recommended to be applied exter-
nally, and with a tight bandage. The pike was long
celebrated, in many parts of Germany and France, for its
charms and medicinal excellencies. A little bone in the
form of a cross, which is said to be discoverable in the
head of this fish, was long worn by the credulous as a sort
of talisman against witchcraft and enchantment. The
heart of this fish is recommended to be eaten against the
paroxysms of fevers ; his gall to be used as a liniment in
affections of the eyes ; his mandibula dried into dust
against pleurisy ; and little fishes found in his belly were

QUALITIES AND VIRTUES OF FISH. 85

prescribed, when dried, as a draught for persons in con-
sumptions.

The roe of different kinds of fish has been a fruitful
topic of conjecture. The eggs of the barbel were long
considered in the north of Europe as noxious, and those
who partook of them copiously would " shrink up in great
danger of life." In some parts of Saxony and Dalmatia,
the roe of the trout, when beaten up with olive oil, and
rubbed on the eyes, was said to bo a certain method of
seeing the departed spirits of our friends after death. In
those localities in France where there are extensive marais
or tanks of water, superstitious opinions on the medicinal
properties of fish extensively prevail among the country
people. Many of the intestinal portions of the large eels,
found in the waters near Arras, in the Pas-de-Calais, are
used both for charms to heighten the complexion of young
women, and to cure various cutaneous disorders.8

In Great Britain, during the last century, we find many
prescriptions in verse, on the medical properties of fish.
Take the following as samples : —

"A RECIPE FOR WEAK NERVES.
" Take wormwood root,

And gall of trout,
And place them on the fire ;
With brain of pike,
Or, if you like,
Take dung out of the hire.
" Then simmer weel,
With oil of eel,

8 Hietoire des Poissons, p. 64.

OD EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL

Three spoonful to a dose j

You soon will find,

With nought unkind,
Your nerves they will compose." — W, S.

London, 1702.

"FOR SPINAL COMPLAINTS.

" If with spinal ill oppress' d,
Take liver of cod, — well dress' d
Place it on the fire to fry,
Dust it o'er with meal of rye ;
On the spine you rub it well,
Pains will fly with magic spell." — Barton, 1710.

"A RECIPE FOR SCALDS AND BOILS.

" An ounce you take

Of salmon roe,
And with it make

A paste or dough,
With olive oil ;

Then rub it o'er
The scald or boil,

'Twill pain no more."

Lessons on CooTcrie, 1709.

In the northern parts of England it is a common thing
among young lads to tie a piece of eel-skin around their
ankles, to keep away cramps and pains. There is an old
ditty to this effect in some localities of the country.

<c Around the shin

Tie the skin,
Of full-grown river eel ;

And every sprain,

And cramp and pain,
Will fly unto the deil."

QUALITIES AND VIRTUES OF FISH. 87

A CURE FOR COLIC,

For wynd and ventosite, that men callis Collica passio,
and this es proved ; tak and make the a girdle of eels
skyn, and while the weras hit aboute thi body, thu sal
noght have Collicam passionem. — MS. of the \^th century,
in the British Museum.

COSMETIC FOR A LADY'S NECK.

To make a woman's neke white and softe, tak fresch oyl
of code, and hennes grees, and the white of egges half-
roasted, and do thereto a lytel popylmele, and enoynt hir
therwith ofte. — MS. of the \^th Century > British Museum.

FOR JAUNDICE.

Take the half of a shirk's head, the liver of the devil-
fish, and three ounces of fine Florense oil ; mix them well
together, after an hour's boiling. Take three wine-glasses
of the syrup daily, they will effectually cure the patient in
a short time. — Medical Recipes, by Dr. Munzel, of Berlin,
Translated into English in 1756.

A CURE FOR THE ITCH.

" Tweed salmon bright,
Sufficient weight,
With butter' d crumbs and spice ;

Some sparrow legs,

The yokes of eggs,
All boil'd and crusted nice.

88 EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL

" Then take your fill,
Should you he ill,
Of what's call'd the fiddle :

It purifies

Where itching lies,
This I wean's my riddle."— TF. S.

FOR JAUNDICE.

A live tench applied to the feet for twelve hours, then
hurried quitely, or thrown down the house of office ; the
patient will soon recover. — Don Pernety's Voyage to the
Falkland Islands.

In Gayton's Longevity we have the following lines on
fish as an article of food : —

" Fishes are like their element and place
Wherein they live, both cold and moist, a race
Of flegmatic creatures, yet they are meat
Which dry and choleric tempers may well eat ;
And those who would look snug, or else snout-fair,
May take these liver-cooling dish for fare.
In fever'd seasons, and in climates hot,
Use them ; but if the beare the helm hath got,
Or under Charles his seven-starr'd heavy wane,
From this dull nourishment let them refraine.
Sweet river-fishes slimy and gross diet
Are gibbery, and make egression quiet ;
More nourishing than sea-fish, and of these,
Those (which the current streams and gravel please,
And do abhore annoyances of sinks,
Which spoil their channels with their loathsome stinks)

QUALITIES AND VIRTUES OF FISH. 89

Are more delicious, such as perch and trout ;
Your mud-fish all incline you to the gout.
But those delighting in sweet scowers, refine
Their squammy sides, and clarify their line."

We learn from the book of Tobias, vii 2, 3, that the
ray fish was burned, and the eggs of the fish are still burnt
as a medicine for intermitting fevers among the Greeks. —
Harris, 408.

Though we have here given a pretty numerous cata-
logue of finny recipes for human ailments, it is not alto-
gether out of our way to mention, that something good
has really come out of the use of fish as a healthful restora-
tive. When contrasted with the gross absurdity of many
of the prescriptions we have given, it is rather striking to
have to notice the very great advantages which have
recently been realized by the use of cod-liver oil. It is
more than sixty years since its valuable properties were
pointed out by Dr. Bardsley ; but it is only within the
last dozen years that the oil has been extensively used as
a most valuable medicine in consumptive cases. There is
an old doggrel on the value of the cod, which we have
found in a collection of Miscellanies, printed in 1689. It
is as follows : —

" Take the cod, and boil it well,
It a generous tale will tell ;
Add thereto of spice some grains,
You'll be relieved of all your pains."

On the recent medical use of cod -liver oil, a late writer
has the following remarks :—

90 EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL

" But with what still greater wonder and complacency
must every enlightened physician now-a-days contemplate
that wholly unexpected and invaluable ally which suffering
lungs have recently secured from the iatric liver of the
cod. Alere flammam — to feed common lamps — was, till
lately, all it professed to do ; but now its vaunt is, alere
vilam — to replenish the lamp of life when burning low and
threatening to go out. About sixty years have elapsed
since Dr. Bardsley first sounded its praises ; but scarce a
dozen have passed since it was fairly put upon trial in
this country, and everybody now knows the result. Thou-
sands of cases hitherto most unpromising, have, under its
auspices, suddenly changed their aspect, and looked bright ;
here, a fair girl, hastening to decay, had scarcely taken a
few doses, when the ominous cough was appeased, she
recovered her roses, smiled once more on a reassured
family of friends, and went on her way rejoicing ; there a
case of graver import, which had whispered death to the
inquiring ear, made a stand, rallied, and consumption was,
for the time, arrested in mid course ; and again, in pa-
tients still further reduced by the blighting malady, the
administration of the bland oil was frequently observed to
respite, soften, and assuage sufferings beyond its power
to remove. Scepticism, by slow degrees, made way to
conviction ; and he who, a few years ago, would justly
have passed for a quack who should have pretended to
cure consumption, is now countenanced everywhere by
brother practitioners, who have all the same story to tell,

QUALITIES AND VIRTUES OF FISH. 91

till the world at large has become convinced of the fact ;
and there is now not a village apothecary through the
length and breadth of our isle who has not himself wit-
nessed some of the endless beneficent wonders which this
penetrating balm, under the Divine blessing, has already
worked, and is daily working,, among the children of

J5Q

men. y

9 Frazer's Magazine for 1853.

92 FOURTEENTH TO THE

CHAPTER Y.

Angling Literature from the Revival of Letters, and the Estab-
lishment of the Art of Printing to the Commencement of
the Eighteenth Century.

ON the revival of letters in Europe, or about the com-
mencement of the fourteenth century, angling effusions in
prose and verse partook of the general mental impetus of
the age. The Italians wrote piscatory plays, and other
fanciful and light pieces on fishing generally, both by sea
and land. They invested their Syrens and Tritons with
angling habits and modes of thought; and made them
expatiate, in glowing terms, on the beauties arising from
the contemplation of the floods and hills, and woods and
vallies, of their picturesque and highly interesting country.
In one of the manuscript plays of this kind, in the library
of the Yatican, at Borne, we have the adventures of a lover,
who kept up a correspondence with the object of his affec-
tions by means of the art of angling ; and we have the
various contrivances or dodges he used to gain his ends,
and overreach the jealous vigilance of the lady's parents,
depicted with great minuteness and humour. There are
likewise songs introduced, descriptive of river scenery, and
to represent the parallel which the imagination may in-
stitute between the variable success that anglers meet

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 93

with and the common and every-day transactions of human
life. We shall try to give the meaning of one of these
dramatic songs, premising that the kind reader will make
due allowances for the lameness of our imitation. Almost
every disciple of the rod will yield his ready assent to the
truthfulness of the general sentiment, conveyed in this
somewhat antiquated Italian piece.

11 How oftimes with my rod in hand,

In wandering by the stream,
I've liken'd the angler's magic wand
To life's deceptive dream !

" The sky, perchance, looks fair and bright,

The breeze curls on the brook,
The waters ting'd to please the sight,
Trout waiting for the hook !

" We plunge and strive from spot to spot,

But not a fish will rise ;
In wonderment, at our ill lot,
Turn up our wistful eyes.

" In daily life the same we see,

When hope mounts on the wing ;
Our means to ends may not agree,
And griefs from labour spring.

" Again, sometimes, the day is sour,

And darkened is the sky ;
Fair sport seems far beyond our power,
Though artful be our fly.

94 FOURTEENTH TO THE

" But here, again, at fault we are,

Success attends our skill,
And fish in scores come wide and far,
Our fishing creel to fill.

" In life's career the same we see,
When hope flags in the rear,
And dark 's the shade of destiny
When our success is near.

" A moral, too, your line may point,

When tangl'd is the hair,
Let patience with her oil anoint,
'Twill save you from despair.

" The same in life when ills assail,

Perplex' d with mischiefs rank,

Patience and skill will seldom fail

To unloose the knotted hank."

VENETIAN FISHERMAN'S SONG.

Now the silver moon arising
Flings around her light serene,

While upon her tranquil bosom
Sleeps in silence Ocean's queen.

O sacra pia virgine,
Ora pro nobis !

O omnes sacri angeli,
Orate pro nobis.

Hark ! along the current gliding
Fishers chaunt their vesper song ;

While the evening's tranquil zephyr
Bears the swelling notes along.

O sacra pia, &c.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 95

In 1496, we have a treatise on angling, published by
Wynkin de Worde, in the form of a small folio, which is a
republication of the celebrated Book of St. Albans, and
containing a tract, entitled ' The Treatyse of Eysshinge
wyth an Angle,' and ornamented with a somewhat rude
woodcut of an angler.

This work has been commonly attributed to Jane
Juliana Berners, or Barnes, a prioress of the Nunnery of
St. Albans. " The angler," says this fair writer, " atte
the leeste, hath his holsom walke, and merry at his ease, a
swete ayare of the swete sauoure wherewith the melodyous
armory of fowlls, he seeth the younge swannes, heerons,
duckes, cotes, and many other fowles, with their brodes,
whych to me seemeth better than all the noyse of houndry,
the blastes of homes, and the scrye of fowles, that hunters,
fawkeners, and fowlers can make. And if the angler of
the fysshe, surely thenne, is there noo man happyei than
he is in his sporyte."

In 1558, we have the celebrated work of Hippolito
Salviani, entitled Aquatilium Animalium Historia. It
is a philosophical work of 500 pages, with upwards of
100 copper-plate engravings; and it gives a very full
and correct account of the nature and habits of fish
generally.

The art of angling was treated of in a sentimental
strain by several Italian writers in the sixteenth century.
In 1584 we have L'Alces Favola Pescatoria, by Antonio
Ongaro, published at Venice, and highly embellished with

96 FOURTEENTH TO THE

a profusion of symbolical devices. This work gives a very
lively description of fishing, of the nature of the rivers
and their scenery in Italy, of the different kinds of bait
used for fish of various sorts, and of their instincts,
migrations, and habits. It is in this publication, as far
as our knowledge extends, that we first meet with the
statement that the trout (trota) pair in the months of July
and August, and that the conjugal union seems to be
cemented by a powerful sympathy and affection. This
writer likewise states the fact, well ascertained by modern
observers, that there is a regular kind of domestic govern-
ment maintained among this class of fish, the largest
apparently assuming supreme and despotic authority. We
have ourselves witnessed in British rivers numerous ex-
emplifications of this finny legislation. We have seen,
say two or three dozen trout, all arranged wedge fashion :
the largest at the thin or sharp end of the wedge ; and the
smaller, in strict proportion to their dimensions, placed in
the rear of the column. Should food be cautiously thrown
in among the group when in this position, the largest fish
always takes it, and the other members of tbe company
never go a single inch out of the regular ranks. The
Italian author just named mentions the fact, hut is some-
what at a loss to divine what is the end or final course of
this singular movement. We confess we can offer no
satisfactory solution of the matter.

In 1576 M. Andrea Calmo published, at Venice, Le

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 97

Bizzarie Faconde et Ingenoiose Piscatorie. We shall insert
the first song in the original : —

" Franceschina de perle, e de ueluo
De safiri, balassi, e diamanti
De porfido allabastro, e serpentin,
D'oro d'arzento, robini, e turchese,
De scarlato d'auolio e de ancipresso
piu bella cha uaruol, e un sturion,
bianca co xe la menola, e 1'anguela
Galante come 1'arboro e la horada,
che luse co fa un suro scombro, e chiepa,
neta co e la molecha, e la granceuola,
la pantalena, la capael granceiporo
ti ha quei to occhi allegri d'anguxigola.
e negri co e la schenna d' una passera
co i denti che proprio caparozzoli
rossa co xe'l barbon e la scarpena
molesina a mo el g6 sardon e anguila
gustosa come el ton inchio e serache
La trutael carpion e le scoranze
grassa, che ti somegi, un sparo, un rumbo
pi saoria che luzzo tenca, e cieualo
lizadra, co xe i gamberi, e marsioni
pulia come le sepe, e cape longhe,
musuh" capesante e ar.che lostrega,
sapi sior cava al sagramento mio
che te uoio tanto ben za boni zorni.
chel di e la notte, ti me sta in la mente
fame pur di dispetti, e di stracoli
che in fina che hauero fia in corpo
Te adorero per una sauta in ciclo

9

98 FOURTEENTH TO THE

Ni buto mai le ree, che del continue
No m'arecorda de la tua bellezza,
digando al nome de cule, che amo
piu che m'intesso, dolce mio reposso,
e quando uedo el pesce che he piao
I non asomeiando alle to gratie,
digando al manco fustu qua fia, mia
che te farauc un don de la mitae,
Si pesco e togne qualche bel biacholo
me par ueder, quando mena la coa,
co ti e vistia da festa la Domenega,
e tal volta che non a saltarelo,
che i tregani me urta infra le gambe,
crio digando fosse qua, Francescha,
che me fa sospirar per so dileto
Che Phaueraue almanco sto bel spasso
cusi semo in uale e ostregar
sempre me ston pensando del to uiso,
e a leto maniere si uliose
e puo le vagho tutte ponderando
e quanti pesi che uedo co i occhi
c'habbia del bon e digo infra de mi,
careti che somegia la me donna
co i pio, co i cuso e coi uegio manzar.
te chiamo, e d'essi te son un presente
de sorte, che tutte quante le hore
ti me se dentro il cuor e le uiscere
ama me mo anche ti si Dio te aida
e sil te par che sial zosto, e honesto
azo chel mondo no te chiama ingrata."

From this time to the appearance, in 1590, of A Booke
of Fishing with Hooke and Line, and all other Instruments

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 99

thereunto lelonginge, made by L. M. (Leonard Mascale) ;
we have little or nothing on the fishing art. It was, how-
ever, occasionally handled by the writers and poets of the
day in songs and squibs. We have an old ballad in
' Disprayse of Women that allure but love not.'

" That troupe of honest dames,
Those Grisels all are gone ;
No Lucrece now is left aliue,
Ne Cleopatra none.

" Those days are all ypast,
That date is fleeted by ;
They myrrors were, dame Nature made,
Her skilful hand to try.

"Now course of kinde exchaungde

Doth yield a woorsen graine,

And women in these latter years,

These modest matrons staine.

" Deceit is their delight,

Great fraudes in friendly lookes ;
They spoil the fish for friendship's sake,
That hover on their hookes.

" They huy the bait too deare,

That so their freedome loze ;

And they the more deceitfull are,

That so can craft and gloze."

In 1600, we have another treatise under the following
title : — Certain experiments concerning Fish and Fruit,
practised by John Tavener, Gent., and by him published

100 FOURTEENTH TO THE

for the benefit of others, London. A few years before
this date we find a work on fish, published by Casper
Schwenkfeld, called Tkerio Tropheum Silesice, in which
there is much curious research and speculation on the
habits, medical properties, and instincts of all the known
classes of fish. There was likewise another work about
the same period, printed at Leipsic, on the different
modes of angling for fish of all kinds. This is but a
small work, of about thirty octavo pages.

From this period, and for some time afterwards, the
literature of angling was, like the other branches of know-
ledge and art, at a very low ebb. There can be no doubt,
however, that angling was followed in these times as a
rural amusement, and that it formed a topic of eulogy and
recommendation to the few of those favoured spirits who
then held a pen in their hands, and committed their
thoughts to paper. We are informed, from the records of
early French literature, that in most of the large libraries
in France, Italy, and Spain, there are manuscript articles
on Fishing, of various remote dates, but of a somewhat
fugitive and puerile cast.

The Piscatory Eclogues of Sanazarius are well known.
They were republished by Pope, in his collection of
Poemata Italarum. These effusions have been the topic
of critical controversy among angling writers. Mr. Draper
and Mr. Jones think highly of them, and maintain that
their author gained more reputation by them than from
all his other works together. Moses Browne entertains a

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 101

different opinion. He says, "Perhaps it had been of
advantage, and this subject (angling L'toratrre) had come
with better appearance if Sanazarius' >had neverwritten Ms
Sea Eclogues: the exercise of> fishing, ; appears' GO Con-
temptible in him, that any that writes 6n a subject that
seems to be of a similar aspect must suffer disadvantage.
His oysters and crayfish are served plentifully over without
any change, and you may break your teeth before you get
to his entertainment. His water-swains differ no ways
from our most simple ones on land, only that he turns
them to sea in an old tattered boat, and to leave them to
wail their loves and seek their fortunes. Eocks, waves,
and desert shores are their insensible retinue."

The e Eclogues ' of Sanazarius are nine in number. The
first is on the angling seasons. It is written in the form
of dialogue by three persons. The topics are, the incon-
veniences to genuine sport from long draughts and land
floods, the general changeableness of the weather, the
best seasons and times for using the rod to advantage, and
of the various methods of summer and winter fishing.
On long spells of dry weather, the poet says : —

" When droughts like these the slack' ning streams repress,
How, Mica, can the angler hope success ?
The fish with sick'ning looks their food refrain,
And seek the coolness of the deeps in vain ;
No kindly rains the scanty pools supply,
And running brooks have ebb'd their channels dry ;

9§

102 FOURTEENTH TO THE

On muddy banks their fishy trains they leave,
, Andfwith the heat their parchy bottoms cleave,
', f ,' A russet elje £njbi;owns the wasted fields,

the scorch' d grcve its wither' d verdure yields."

The second * Eclogue' is devoted to a description of
night fishing. Two youths are represented as going out
on a summer's evening, under the influence of those sub-
dued feelings which the solemn twilight season naturally
creates. This melancholy mood inspires a disposition to
moralize, which, however, the breaking in of the morning
dawn in a great measure dissipates.

" Here then beneath the hedgy covert rest,
Now farther roaming dangerously request ;
Lest fawns that haunt the dunny woods by night,
With tedious yell or glaring forms affright ;
Or wand'ring fires that o'er the marches stray,
Tho' bogs and moory fens misguide our way."
*****

Pleasing by early morn the bleating flocks,
The currents murmur down the distant rocks,
The gale's perfume, the echo's mimic sound,
The night-bird's song, and low of kine around ;
In hollow banks the hum of must'ring bees,
And zephyr's whisp'ring soft amid the trees."

The third ' Eclogue ' describes the river enemies of
the trout and salmon. Among these the otter takes a
prominent place. A description is given of one of these

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY,, 103

animals killing a large trout, and of his subsequent capture
by an expert young angler.

In the fourth ' Eclogue/ entitled ' The Sea Swains/ we
have the following passage on the fisher's life and
character : —

" Happy the fisher's life and humble state,
Calm are his hours, and free from rude debate ;
No restless cares he knows of sordid gain,
Nor schemes, that rack the moiling statesman's brain ;
Fearless in shades he takes his healthy dreams,
And labours, mild, amid refreshing streams,
Or on the quiet ocean tries his oar j
Or sings in tempests on the shelt'ry shore.
His boat his cabin yields, his sails a bed,
And ready fruit his homely table spread :
While berries, which th' unrifl'd trees produce,
Refresh his kindly thirst with plenteous juice ;
Or clustering grapes their liquid treasures bring,
Cool temper'd from the neighbour — running spring,
Who shares, like him, what bounteous nature yields ;
The gifts of rivers, and the sweets of fields ;
Ev'n all is his where'er he wanders round,
And age with undiminished vigour crown' d."

The fifth * Eclogue' describes the feelings of a young
angler who has been crossed in love. The sixth is The
Angler's Songs, which represents two craftsmen sitting
by the banks of a purling stream, and pouring out their
respective ditties in rapturous praise of their art. In
the seventh 'Eclogue,' we have The Strife; in the

104 FOURTEENTH TO THE

eighth, The Fowlers; and in the ninth, The Com-
plaints, or the Friends. This is a sort of familiar con-
ference between the poet and his friend. The whole is
descriptive of a condition of mind, produced by a series of
disappointments, under which it was written.

" Proud Stella ! angel with a tyrant's heart,
Form'd for my wish, yet destin'd for my smart,
Once my lov'd hope, companion soft and kind,
Till false dividing friends unfix'd thy mind ;
Forbid thy sight, thy ever parting charms,
Torn from those true but vainly -doating arms,
Tho' doom'd my flame in silence to suppress,
Still the deep secret will thy looks confess ;
My stifled sigh, my softly- stealing tear,
Thro' each disguise the lover will appear."

A few years after, Giovanni Villifranci published at
Venice, in 1614, his I? Armaranto Favola Pescatoria.
There is an edition of this work, dated 1612, but it is much
smaller, and printed on inferior paper. He has several
songs in his work full of sentiments of love. One of these,
commencing with the line, " La mia douzella ch'e casi
allegre e bella," we shall here insert, as a specimen of his
style and train of thought.

" c My pretty maids, so blythe and gay,

With crook and line, whence came you, pray ? '
c We come, Sir, from the neighbouring hill
Close by the fount of this clear rill ;
There, in a little tuff of green,
Our father's angling cot is seen ;

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 105

Beneath that dear, though narrow shed,
We sisters all were born and bred.'

' Oh, what must be the favour'd place
That yields such charms and native grace ;
As sedgy weeds no more can shroud
Than noon-day's sun an envious cloud !
Love's genuine progeny you seem,
From each fair face such pleasures beam.1

* Our business is to tend our flocks,
To throw our lines beyond the rocks ;
When fed, we drive our flocks at eve,
So now, kind Sir, we take our leave.'

* Well might it grieve your beauties rare,

To waste themselves on desert air,
When courts and cities would delight
To give them to the public sight ;
But tell me, do you feel content
On toils so homely to be pent ? '

' More true content within us dwells,
While roving through these streamy dells,
Than fills the hearts of ladies great,
While dancing in the rooms of state ;
No wealth we want, or fine array,
Our cares and wanderings make us gay.' "

With some variations from Dr. Aikin's version.

In 1612, we find another Italian publication, of about
two hundred and fifty pages, entitled, La Cana de Piscare,
in which there are some interesting descriptions of angling
excursions on some of the higher sections of the river

106 FOURTEENTH TO THE

Arno and its smaller tributaries. These waters are very
prolific of fish, and they seem at this period to have been
much frequented by piscatory amateurs and pic-nic parties.
A goodly portion of sentiment and feeling is thrown into
this little treatise. The author descants on the loveliness
of nature so commonly displayed on the banks of rivers,
and on the remarkably soothing influence which the
rippling and murmuring sounds of falling and running
streams of water has upon the human mind. He says,
" I have travelled much with the rod, in certain seasons
of the year, by the banks of the chief fishing localities of
Italy, and I feel at all times as if I had made my escape
from the ordinary ills and plagues of life. I have com-
monly had one or two companions, and we have enjoyed
ourselves in as lively and rational a manner as possible ;
giving to Nature all her due, and dwelling on the various
picturesque scenes we every day meet with, in that true
spirit of admiration so improveable to the heart and un-
derstanding. I feel confident that most of our great
artists must have been fishers in early life. Our art is
well fitted to arouse the dormant powers of sentiment, and
the general ideas of the sublime and beautiful in external
nature. It is said that Michael Angelo, when a youth,
often amused himself with the fishing-rod, and would take
long journeys to visit spots famous for their rural scenery
and beauties. The same thing I have heard remarked of
less distinguished artists, both sculptors and painters, of
our own and of other countries,"1

1 La Canna, p. 60.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 107

Giannetazzio writes on the mode of catching the Be-
lone, or Gar-fish, in the Mediterranean sea, by means of
its own teeth. The instruments are made at Naples, and
its capture successfully practised there.

** Burnished with blue, and bright as demask steel,
Behold the acus tribe with pointed bill,
All fringed with teeth ; no greedier fish than they
E'er broke the serried lines the foaming bay,
Soon, as the practised crew this frolic throng
Beholds advancing rapidly along,
Adjusting swift a tendon to the line,
They throw — then drag it glistening through the brine,
Anon the lure the greedy fish pursue ;
The gristle charms, but soon its charms they rue,
Fix'd by the teeth to that tough barbless bait,
They struggling yield to suicidal fate."

Casting an eye from Italy towards Spain, we recognize
several books on angling, written, however, chiefly by
ecclesiastics. There was one published at Yalladolid in
1650, containing a list of river fish, and a description of
the various kinds of hooks and lines requisite for their
capture. D. Teodoro de Almeida wrote a work On the
Nature of Mshy Madrid, 1700, which is interesting, as
containing a correct account of a great number of the
finest rivers of Spain that are adapted for rod fishing. A
little after this period we have the Fisher, by Father
Bostos, a moralizing and religious treatise on the general
profession of a fisher. And here it may be remarked, that

108 FOURTEENTH TO THE

the Catholic church, which meddles with everything,
meddled likewise with angling. It took it under its
especial protection, to the exclusion of hunting, and
other recreations of a violent and boisterous character.
There is a standing Canon2 on the subject, which states
that hunters have generally been great sinners, citing the
example of Esau; whereas fishermen, by Scripture tes-
timony, have usually been deemed holy and pious men.
Here is the reason for this opinion : — " Sed qua re pro-
hibetur venari, et non piscari? Quia forte piscatis fit
sine clamore, venatio non ; vel quia major est, delectatio
in venatione ; dum enim quis est in venatione nihil potest
de divinis cogitare." 3 The church likewise alludes to the
great Ambrose, who, in his thirty-third homily, expresses
himself in perfect harmony with these sentiments.

Passing from the warm and genial regions of Italy,
Spain, and the south of France, to Holland and Belgium,
we see the art of angling under another phase. And now
we think we hear some ardent piscatorian asking, "What,
in the name of wonder, could ever have been written on my
noble art in such a place as Holland ? " Yes ; this, we
admit, is a natural question to ask. Where there is
nothing but ditches, and canals, and sluices, and sand-
banks, and dikes, and windmills, it does seem somewhat
miraculous that anything spiritual could be imparted to

2 Decretals, Lyons, 1670.

3 See on this subject, Principes de Conduite, Ordonnances et
Statuts au Diocese d' Arras, 1825.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 109

an art, which must, in such localities, be stripped of those
necessary accessaries to sentiment and feeling — the un-
dulating landscape, and the rippling and limpid stream.
But, strange to say, the Dutch have displayed a genius of
their own in reference to fishing. They have been clever
and amusing caricaturists of it. There are many finely
executed prints, of the early parts of the seventeenth
century, which represent the fisherman of Holland in the
most grotesque and laughable positions. It must be
borne in mind, that this part of Europe has always been,
and is yet, famous for its salmon. All the splendid estu-
aries which disembogue themselves into the maritime
districts of Holland are full of them ; for, even in the
days of the Eomans, we find the Moselle — " the clear and
blue Moselle " — whose waters fall into the Ehine, cele-
brated for its numerous and delicious salmon. Fishing,
therefore, both for this monarch of the streams and less
valuable sport, has been commonly practised for several
centuries among a large class of the people, both for profit
and amusement. Indeed, there is a common proverb in
Holland that Amsterdam is built upon the bones of fish.
In 1613 we have, in Dutch, the Handbook of Fishing
(Amsterdam), in which the art is described, and plates
of the several kinds of fish are given. About half a cen-
tury after this we have another work, The Msher's Guide,
a small treatise, little more than a mere abridgment of the
book just mentioned. The earliest caricatures of the
angler we have seen bear the date of 1 603. One represents

10

110 FOURTEENTH TO THE

a Dutch amateur, evidently of some public notoriety,
sitting like a lubberly clodpole, with the most bewildering
expression of face, pulling a prodigious large salmon at the
foot of a weir ; in another print figures a fisher weeping
for the loss of a part of his rod and tackle. Underneath
the print are some verses, which may be paraphrased
thus :—

" Mynheer Vandunk, though he never got drunk,

Sipp'd brandy and angled gaily ;
And he quenched his thirst with two quarts of the first,

Hooking lots of fine salmon daily :
Singing — ' Oh, that a fisherman's draught could he
As deep as the rolling Zuyder Zee.'

Water well mixed with spirit good store,

No fisherman thinks of scorning :
But of water alone he drinks no more
Than to help him to bring his fish on shore

Upon the market-stall in the morning.
For a fishing Dutchman's draught should be
As deep as the rolling Zuyder Zee."

In the well-known works of Jacob Cats, the Dutch
author, we have several fables connected with fishing.
Here is one in his own language: —

" OOCK BRANT IN ZEE.

Wat Saylt men over Zee's in alle vreemde landen ?
Het vier het minne-vier ran in her water branden j
De groote Zee-lamprey en houdt geen vaste ree,
En lyt noch echter brant te midden in de Zee.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Ill

Waer sal een vryer heen ? waer sal een minnaer varen ?
Hoc ? is met Venus selfs gesproten uyt de baren ?
Besict het gautsche diep, het kricht ven haren brandt,
De Zee heeft ook haer vier ; 'tis Venus Vaderlandt,"

(Why are we sailing over the seas to all foreign lands ?
The heat or fever of love can burn even in the waters.
The whale does not keep a steady course, but goes on
blowing in the midst of the vast ocean. Where shall a
lover not go ? To where shall he not set sail ? Venus
herself, is she not borne of the waves ? Examine the
depth of the sea, it is full of her fire. It is heaven's
fatherland.)

Cats has another piece, in which he describes fishing
by torch-light. Prom the fact that the fish gather round
the light and seem spell-bound, he draws a moral that
people should not be led away by appearances, nor be
perpetually striving after what they cannot attain. They
had better remain in their accustomed station of life than
to run after shadows and glaring enterprises, which so
often lead to fatal consequences.

The following pieces are taken from a little work called
Miscellanies, published by Thomas Passenger, at the
Three Bibles and Star, London Bridge. They are under
the head of Dutch Fishing Rhymes.

Minheer Van Storke

Please get to worke
And catch a fish for dinner ;

When you've dry'd it,

Then you'll fry it,
And nothing will be finner.

FOURTEENTH TO THE

To throw a line

Into the Rhine
And catch a rosy salmon ;

It is a feed,

And sport indeed,
And certainly no gammon.

Little Van Butter caught a fish for his supper,

And drew it out of the sea ;
And with rod in his hand, like a wizard's wand,

Again took out other three.

Little Van Butter ran home to his mother,
Who call'd him a very good boy j

So he ran in a trice, threw his line other thrice,
This fill'd the good- wife with great joy.

The Zudder Zee is deep,
The line runs off the pirn ;

The waves foam up and sweep,
My bait I can't discern.

But soon I have a bite,
My rod begins to bend ;

We struggle and we fight,
My tackle sure will rend I

But soon the fish I see,

Wrigling in the water j
It wishes to be free,
And makes a mighty splatter.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 113

I haul it on the beach,

It quivers and expires j
Again my line I stretch,

But chill' d are my desires !

My Father scolds with wrath,

And says I am a fool ;
And strikes me with a lath,

And drives me back to school !

Van Merke was sure a sprightly lad,
He swill'd his gin, and us'd his gad,

And caught the rosy salmon ;
He would plunge the Ehine fearlessly
To throw a line into the sea,

He'd turn his back on no man.

He fed the market with his store,
No fisherman could well do more,

Skilled in his craft was he ;
To throw the line o'er glossy pool,
Or skew'd it round the rocky knoll,

That peeps into the sea.

He cheer' d me up, and call'd me dove,
I was his charmer and his love,

He'd press me to his breast ;
At length we to the altar went,
The source of joy and pure content,

Where fishers sure may find a rest.

10 §

114 FOURTEENTH TO THE

In a book on " Angling," published at Copenhagen in
the middle of this century, we have some lines descriptive
of the salmon and salmon fishing. The following is a
translation of them, made by a friend : —

" We've often spoke with sanguine air
Of salmon runs near Carlstak fair ;
Where sport was truly worth the name,
In deeper pools, with larger game.
Such tales an angler's hopes rais'd high,
And straightway he had come to try ;
And well rewarded was his toil,
Nine salmon were his first day's spoil.
One gallant fish of extra weight
Lay beach' d beside the other eight,
Just thirty pounds, when weigh' d like gold,
The index of the steelyard told.
He gaff'd him ere he struck the ground,
Hence loss of blood would stand a pound ;
A finer fish was seldom seen
So thick and short — so silv'ry clean 5
Small in the head, and bright the scale,
The brine-bred insect on his tail,
Bed in the gills, the muscles hard,
His measur'd length, a neat cloth yard 5
While round his shoulders, fair and free,
An inch-line mark stood thirty-three,
Close was his vent, scarce seen at all,
The girth above the tail so small,
That in the grasp when firmly set,
The thumb and fingers fairly met."

ganazarius, whom we have just noticed, flourished at

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 115

the commencement of the sixteenth century. The first
Aldine edition of the works of the poet is that of Venice
of 1527, in 8vo. The most perfect edition is that printed
at the same place in 1535, 8vo. His 'Piscatoria ' will be
found in both collections of his poems.

The Italian Jesuit, Nicolas Perthenius, wrote his
Piscatory Eclogues (Piscatoria et Nautica) a few years
after the times of Sanazarius. The c Eclogues ' were
published apart from other poetical effusions of the same
author, at Naples, in 1681 ; and a smaller edition, with
engravings, was published at the same place in 1686.

From the commencement of the seventeenth century,
angling literature made rapid progress, and sensibly par-
took of the general intellectual improvement which this
active portion of European history pourtrays, in all
branches of useful and polite writing.

Michael Drayton must not be passed over in silence.
His lines on the river Severn (] 612) are well entitled to
notice. He eulogises it for a numerous and varied stock
of fish.

" So that of every kind, the new-spawn'd numerous fry,
Seem in me as the sands that on my shore do lie.
The barbel, than which fish a braver doth not swim,
Nor greater for the ford, within my spacious brim.
Nor (newly taken) more the curious taste doth please ;
The grayling, whose great spawn is big as any pease ;
The perch, with prickly fins, against the pike prepared,
As nature hath thereon bestowed this stronger guard,

116 FOURTEENTH TO THE*

His daintiness'to keep (each curious palate's proof)
From his vile ravenous^foe ;~"next him I name the ruff,
His very near ally, and both for scale and fin,
In taste, and for his bait (indeed) his next of kin.
The pretty slender dare, of many called the dace,
Within my liquid glass, when Phoebus looks his face,
Oft swiftly, as he swims, his silver belly shows,
But with such nimble flight, that ere you can disclose
His shape, out of your sight like lightning he is shot.
The trout by nature mark'd with many a crimson spot,
As though the curious were in him above the rest,
And of fresh- water fish, did unto him the best.

# # # #

The lusty salmon, then, from Neptune's wat'ry realm,
Who for their numerous stores, stemming my tideful stream,
Then being in his kind, in me his pleasure takes
(For whom the fisher then all other game forsakes),
Which bending of himself to the fashion of a ring,
Above the forced wears himself doth nimbly fling.'*

We now come to a well-defined and prominent land-
mark in angling literature, namely, the appearance of
Denny's or Devor's work. It was published in 1613,
under the title of The Secrets of Angling, teaching the
choicest Tooles, Baytes, and Seasons for the taking of any
Fish in Pond or Rivers, practised and familiarly opened in
these BooJces, by J. D. Devor was a" man of deep
thought, and, in a certain point of view, a man of a
truly contemplative genius. He looked upon nature with
the eye of a philosopher, and with the feelings and senti-

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 117

merits of a poet and a moralist. He was the forerunner
of Izaak Walton, and the real founder of that species of
piscatory style and turn of thought for which " honest
Izaak "has so long been justly celebrated amongst us.
Devor dashed off the art of rod-fishing, in all its phases,
with a bold and masterly hand ; and most certainly raised
the reputation of the " Craft " in public opinion many
degrees beyond the point it had attained in the hands of
preceding writers. His thoughts are natural and elevated;
his versification smooth and pointed ; and the spirit which
breathes throughout his entire work is that of an amiable
and well-regulated understanding.

Devor, in his poem, descants with great earnestness
upon the necessity of an angler cultivating knowledge in
general, and particularly on the advantages to be derived
from his assiduous cultivation of religious and moral sen-
timents. These give him a keener relish for the sub-
limities and beauties of nature. The following stanzas
exhibit a pretty correct notion of the manner in which he
treats his subject : —

" When fair Aurora, rising early shows
Her blushing face beyond the eastern hills,
And dyes the heavenly vault with purple rowes,
That far around the world with brightness fills ;
The meadows green are hoare with silver dewes,
That on the earth the sable earth distils,

And chaunting birds, with merry notes, bewray
The near approaching of the cheerful day.

118 FOURTEENTH TO THE

Then let him go to river, brook, or lake,
That loves the sport, where stores of fish abound,
And through the pleasant fields his journey make,
'Midst sweet pastures, meadows fresh and sound,
Where he may bsst his choice of pastime take,
While swift Hyperion runs his circle round ;
And as the place shall to his liking prove,
There still remain, or further else remove."

The year after (1614) the appearance of Devor's poem,
another work on angling, was published under the title
of The Pleasures of Princes, or Good Hens Recreations ;
containing a Discourse on the General Art of Fishing with
the Angle ; and all the hidden secrets belonging there-
unto. This treatise is anonymous. In 1733, Gervas
Markham wrote his Countrey Contentment, which is in
substance a prose version of Devor's work, with many
additions of his own. The following passages will give
a fair idea of the scope of this book : —

"Now for the inward qualities of mind, albeit some
writers reduce them to twelve heads, which, indeed
whosoever enjoy eth, cannot chuse but be very complete in
much reflection ; yet I must draw them into many more
branches. And first, and most essential whereof is, that
a skilful angler ought to be a general scholar, and seen
in all the liberal sciences ; as a grammarian, to know how
either to write or discourse of his art in true and fitting
terms, either without affectation or rudeness, and should
have sweetness of speech to persuade others and engage

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 119

others to delight in an exercise so much laudable." ....
"( An angler must be full of love, both to his pleasure and
to his neighbour ; to his pleasure, which otherwise will be
irksome and tedious ; and to his neighbour, that he never
give offence in any particular, nor be guilty of any general
destruction." . . . . " He should not be unskilful in
musick, that whensoever either melancholy, heaviness of
his thoughts, or the perturbations of his own fancies,
stirreth up sadness in him, he may remove the same with
some godly hymn or anthem, of which David gives us
ample examples."

Mr. PHINEAS FLETCHER wrote Piscatory Eclogues
(1621). He was Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.
They have been often reprinted. The following two speci-
mens are extracted from them : —

" But, ah ! let me under some Kentish hill,
Near rolling Medway, 'mong my fellow-peers,
With fearless merry-make and piping, still
For ever pass my few and slow-paced years.
The beach shall yield a safe, cool canopy,
While down I sit and sing to th' echoing wood ;
Ah ! singing might I live and singing die !
So by fair Thames or Medway's silver flood,
The dying swan, .when years his temples pierce,
In music's strains breathes out his life and verse,
And chaunting own his dirge, tides on his watery hearse."

The following lines are descriptive of the innocent
pleasures which attend an angler's country life : —

120 FOURTEENTH TO THE

" His certain life, which never can deceive him,
Is full of thousand sweets and rich content ;
The smooth-leav'd beeches in the field receive him
With coolest shade, till noontide's heat be spent.
His life is neither tost on boist'rous seas
Of the vexatious world, or lost in slothful ease ;
Pleas'd and full blest he lives, when he his G-od can please."

" His bed, more safe than soft, yields quiet sleeps,*
While by his side his faithful spouse has place ;
His little son into his bosom creeps,
The lively picture of his father's face.

Never his humble roof nor state torment him,

Less he could like, if less his fate had lent him,

And when he dies, green turfs with grassy tomb content him."

Fletcher was likewise the author of Sicelides, a pis-
catory drama.

The next epoch in our sketch, is the work of Izaak
Walton. It made its appearance in 1613. It will readily
be conceded, even by the most devoted of the disciples of
' good Izaak/ that there were many materials strewed about
in all directions by previous writers, calculated to aid him
considerably in the getting up of his performance. He was
not, in fact, the creator of what may be termed Piscatory
Waltonianism. He certainly greatly improved and deve-
loped it ; but he owed more to his predecessors than is
commonly imagined. Neither his sentiments, his quaint-
ness, his poetical vein, nor his religious reflections, are
entirely his own. They had all been brought to bear in

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 121

turns by previous writers on the general pursuits and
contemplative habits of the angler. But still his merits
are great ; and posterity has hitherto stamped them with
their cordial and devoted approval.

It is an unnecessary task to give anything like a formal
description or analysis of Walton's Complete Angler — a
work which is in everybody's hands. A single poetical
quotation or two will answer all the purposes of an
extended notice.

" Whilst I listen to thy voice,

Chloris, I feel my heart decay :

That powerful noise

Calls my fleeting soul away :
Oh ! suppress that magic sound
Which destroys without a wound.

Peace, Chloris, peace ; or singing die,

That together you and I

To heaven may go :

For all we know
Of what the blessed do above
Is, that they sing, and that they love."

" Oh, the gallant fisher's life,
It is the best of any ;
'Tis full of pleasure, void of strife,
And 'tis beloved by many :

Other joys

Are but toys ;

Only this

Lawful is :

For our skill

Breeds no ill,
But content and pleasure.

11

122 FOURTEENTH TO THE

In a morning up we rise,
Ere Aurora's peeping,
Drink a cup to wash our eyes,
Leave the sluggard sleeping :

Then we go

To and fro,

With our knacks

At our backs,

To such streams

As the Thames,
If we have the leisure.

When we please to walk abroad
For our recreation,
In the fields is our abode,
Full of delectation :

Where in a brook

With a hook,

Or a lake,

Fish we take,

Then we sit,

For a bit,
Till we fish entangle.

We have gentles in a horn,
We have paste and worms too ;
We can watch both night and morn,
Suffer rain and storms too ;

None do here

Use to swear ;

Oaths do fray

Fish away ;

We sit still,

And watch our quill ;
Fishers must not wrangle.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 123

If the sun's excessive heat
Make our bodies swelter,
To an osier hedge we get
For a friendly shelter ;

Where in a dyke

Pearch or pike,

Roach or dace,

We do chase,

Bleak or gudgeon,

Without grudging ;
We are still contented.

Or we sometimes pass an hour
Under a green willow,
That defends us from a shower,
Making earth our pillow ;

Where we may

Think and pray,
Before death
Stops our breath

Other joys
Are but toys
And to be lamented."

The following lines are from the pen of Dr. Donne : —

" Come, live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove,
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines, and silver hooks.

There will the river whispering run,
Warmed by thy eyes more than the sun ;
And there the enamell'd fish will stay,
Begging themselves they may betray.

124 FOURTEENTH TO THE

When thou wilt swim in that live bath,
Each fish, which every channel hath,
Most amorously to thee will swim,
Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.

If thou to be so seen beest loth,
By sun or moon, thou darkenest both ;
And if mine eyes have leave to see,
I need not their light, having thee.

Let others freeze with angling reeds,
And cut their legs with shells and weeds,
Or treacherously poor fish beset
With strangling snare or windowy net ;

Let coarse bold hands, from slimy nest,
The bedded fish in banks outwrest j
Let curious traitors sleave silk flies,
To 'witch poor wandering fishes' eyes :

For thee, thou need'st no such deceit,
For thou thyself art thine own bait :
That fish that is not catch' d thereby
Is wiser far, alas, than I."

About the middle of the seventeenth century, we find
that the satirical and humourous became more frequently
employed in angling effusions than in previous times.
There are several quaint and funny ballads on matters and
pursuits connected with the rod and the line. We shall se-
lect one. It is from Llewellan's New Miracles (1646), and
treats of a subject which, in modern days, is a fertile topic

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 125

of discussion and remark among anglers — namely, * On
unfair modes of fishing.'

" You that fish for dace and roches,

Carpes or tenches, bonus noches,

Thou wast borne betweene two dishes

When the Fryday signe was fishes.

Angler's yeares are made and spent,

All in Ember weekes and Lent.

Breake thy rod about thy noddle,
Throw thy worms and flies by the pottle,
Keepe thy corke to stop thy bottle,
Make straight thy hooke, and be not afeard

To shave his beard j
That in case of started stitches
Hooke and line may mend thy breeches.

He that searches pools and dikes,
Halters jackes, and strangles pikes,
Let him know, though he think he wise is,
'Tis not a sport but an assizes
Fish to hooke, were the case disputed,
Are not tooke, but executed.
Breake thy rod, &c. &c.

You whose pastes fox rivers throat
And make Isis pay her groate.
That from May to parch October,
Scarce a minow can slepe sober.
Be your fish in open thrust,
And your owne red-paste the crust.
Breake thy rod, &c. &c.

11 §

126 FOURTEENTH TO THE

Hookes and lines of larger sizes,
Such as the tyrant that roules devises,
Fishes nere helieve his fable,
What he calls a line is a cable ;
That's a knave of endless rancor,
Who for a hooke doth cast an anchor.

Breake thy rod, &c. &c.
But of all men he is the cheater,
Who with small fish takes up the greater,
He makes carpes without all dudgeon,
Makes a Jonas of a gudgeon ;
Cruell man that stayes on gravell,
Fish that great with fish doth travell.

Breake thy rod," &c. &e.

After " Old Isaac" we recognise his intimate and
bosom friend, Dr. Cotton, who was from the commence-
ment, and still is invariably associated with his fame as a
piscatory writer. Cotton was a most enthusiastic angler,
and in all his poetical effusions, found in his poems, as
well as in those published along with the common editions
of Walton's book, are lively, witty, and sentimental.

"LINES BY COTTON.
" Away to the brook,

All your tackle out-look,
Here's a day that is worth a year's wishing.
See that all tilings be right,
For 'twould be a spite
To want tools when a man goes a-fishing.

Your rod with tops two,

For the same will not do,
If your manner of angling you vary ;

And full well may you think,

If you troll with a pink,
One too weak will be apt to miscarry.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 127

Then basket, neat made

By a master in's trade,
In a belt at your shoulders must dangle j

For none e'er was so vain

To wear this to disdain
Who a true brother was of the angle.

Next pouch must not fail,

Stuff" d as full as a mail,
With wax, crewels, silks, hair, furs, and feathers,

To make several flies,

For the several skies,
That shall kill in despite of all weathers.

The boxes and books

For your lines and your hooks 5
And, though not for strict need notwithstanding.

Your scissars and hone

To adjust your points on,
With a net to be sure of your landing.

All these being on,

'Tis high time we were gone,
Down and upward, that all may have pleasure,

Till, here meeting at night,

We shall have the delight
To discourse of our fortunes at leisure.

The day's not too bright,

And the wind hits us right
And all nature does seem to invite us,

We have all things at will

For to second our skill,
As they all did conspire to delight us .

128 FOURTEENTH TO THE

On stream now, or still,

A large pannier we'll fill.
Trout and grayling to rise are so willing ;

I dare venture to say,

'Twill be a bloody day,
And we all shall be weary of killing.

Away, then, away,

We lose sport by delay ;
But first, leave our sorrows behind us ;

If Miss Fortune should come,

We are all gone from home,
And a fishing she never can find us.

The angler is free

From the cares that degree
Finds itself with, so often, tormented ;

And although we should slay

Each a hundred a day,
'Tis a slaughter needs ne'er be repented.

And though we display

All our arts to betray
What were made for man's pleasure and diet;

Yet both princes and states

May for all our quaint baits
Bule themselves and their people in quiet.

We scratch not our pates,
Nor repine at the rates

Our superiors impose on our living ;
But do frankly submit,
Knowing they have more wit

In demanding than we have in giving.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 129

While quiet we sit,

We conclude all things fit,
Acquiescing with hearty submission,

For, though simple, we know

That soft murmurs will grow
At the last, unto downright sedition.

We care not who says,

And intends it dispraise,
That an angler to a fool is next neighbour :

Let him prate — what care we ?

We're as honest as he ;
And so let him take that for his labour."

Walton and Cotton had many imitators ; among the

number was Parker, who wrote poetry on the art of

angling. His verses were published in 1670. They never
stood high in critical estimation.

130 ANGLING LITERATURE

CHAPTER VI.

Angling Literature connected with. Heraldry, Architecture,
Ancient Coins, &c. &c.

IN the science or art of Heraldry, fish occupy a con-
spicuous station. In fact the subject is too vast for us to
do anything but merely allude to it in a very cursory
manner. Though the chief portion of armorial ensigns
were originally connected with, or arose out of the military
service of the feudal system ; yet the different modes of
taking fish by the spear, the net, or the hook, are shown
to have been indicated in the armorial emblems of those
Lords of Manors who derived revenues from the produce
of fisheries.

The most early known device of fish, the Zodiacal sign,
is emblematical of the fishery of the Nile, commencing in
the month of February, about the period of the year when
the sun enters Pisces, which was considered the best season
for taking fish.

The sign of Pisces, according to French heraldic commen-
tators, is composed of dolphins, which the goddess Yenus
placed in the Zodiac. In the most celebrated statue of the
goddess at Florence, she is represented with a dolphin at her
feet, to indicate her origin from the sea. The dolphin, in
mythology, was sacred to Apollo, and is represented on a
tripod in the reverse of a medal struck in the reign of
Yitellius. The employment of this fish as a poetical re-

CONNECTED WITH HERALDRY, ETC, 131

presentation of the sea, in numbers of heraldic devices,
arises out of the following mythological story. To obtain
the favour of Amphitrite, who had made a vow of eternal
celibacy, the god Neptune assumed the form of a dolphin,
and the nymph, as emblematical of her passion for the
sea, is always represented in a car drawn by dolphins.

The ocean was a deity, whose protection was invoked
by the Romans on the occasion of any voyage ; he is re-
presented seated on the waves with grapes in his hair, and
dolphins in his head. By the goddess Tethys, whose
name is familiar as a poetical expression for the sea, he
was the father of the Oceanides, who ruled the tempest.
To his son Proteus, Oceanus confided the care of the fish,
or, as Yirgil says, according to Dryden, "to keep his
scaly flocks."

"High o'er the main in watery pomp he rides,
His azure car and finny coursers guides."

The dolphin of the ancients is more particularly famed
in the story of Arion, the celebrated musician of Lesbos,
the melodious sweetness of whose lyre attracted a number
of dolphins round his ship ; and when he afterwards
threw himself into the sea, in fear of his life, one of them
carried him safely on its back to the shore. This fable has
sometimes given rise to extravagant representations of
heraldry ; take one for an example : a musician standing
on the back of a dolphin, with the lines —

" A fiddler on a fish through waves advanced j
He twing'd his catgut, and the dolphin danced."

132 ANGLING LITERATURE

There Is a species of fish, like the carp in England,
found in Bengal,

" Where, by a thousand rivers fed,
Swift Ganges fills his spacious bed."

This fish is used as a badge of dignity, under the name of
Mahi Maratib, and, agreeably to eastern parade, is borne
in ceremonials upon elephants before the officers of State.

The type of the connection between the dignity of the
church and the humble employment of St. Peter, as a
fisherman, is not entirely disregarded by the Sovereign
Pontiff; his signet, the fisherman's ring, Vanello del pis-
calore, represents St. Peter drawing his nets ; and the
celebrated Namculo di Giotto? in mosaic, over the portal
of St. Peter's at Eome, is designed from the same subject.1

Pliny mentions Eulvius Urpinus as the inventor of the
art of fattening shell-fish. C. Caylus gives an Egyptian
monument, engraved upon a shell of the pinna marina,
and resembling a cornelian ; indeed, the ancients em-
ployed more than one kind of shell to imitate gems. A
shell upon the coins of Tyre is the emblem of the Tyrian
purple ; upon other coins it is the emblem of Yenus. It
also occurs upon the coins of Tarentum,Cuma,Pyrnus,&c.2

We are told that Thetis was metamorphosed into
a cuttle-fish when Peleus overcame her resistance ; hence
this fish serves as a type of Syracusan coins, and those
struck off in other maritime towns in Magna Gra3cia.

1 Moule's Heraldry.

2 Fosbroke, Ency. Antiq. vol. ii.

CONNECTED WITH HERALDRY, ETC. 133

The City of Venice has the emblems of fish on all its
public buildings, and even on the domestic furniture of its
inhabitants. Specimens of the latter are often found in
London, among the dealers of old and carved materials of
household use.

The city of Venice is described in Purchas's Pil-

grames as,

« a riche towne of spicery :

And of all other merchandise also,
And right well vitelet thereto j
And namely of fresche water fische,
Pike, eile, tench, carpe, Iwis.

Vol. ii, 1625.

On the subject of coins we have but very little infor-
mation to communicate. There is one very fine copper
coin, of the age of Augustus, bearing the mark of Carteia,
a town in Spain, on one side of which there is a well-defined
representation of a man angling with a rod and line, and
a fishing basket by his side. There is likewise a gold
coin, of the date of 1475, representing St. Peter in the
act of fishing. These two coins are in the British Museum.
There are two or three small pieces of money of a Venician
origin, on which similar piscatory figures are represented.
None of these, however, have fallen under our own personal
inspection.

134 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

CHAPTER VII.

Angling Literature in connection with Astrology, Necromancy,
the Drama — Loves of the Fish — Fairy Tales — Fascination,
Dreams — Omens — Epigrams — Charades, Cunundrums,
Valentines — Tales of Remarkable Fish, &c. &c. &c.

WE find many of the most popular astrologers affirming
the intimate relations subsisting between the heavenly
bodies and fishes, belonging to both fresh water and salt.
Both the Greeks and the Romans believed that oysters
grew fat in the first two quarters of the moon, and lean
in the last two.

The planetary influence upon fish is alluded to by
Gower, in his Confessione Amatis, 1554.
" Benethe all other stout the moone,

The whiche hath with the sea to doone,

Of floodes highe, and ebbes lowe,

Vpon his chaunge it shall be knowe,

And uery fishe, whiche hath a shelle,

Mote in his gouernance dwelle,

To wexe and wane in his degree,

As by the moone a man mai see."

In the systems of astrology maintained during the
middle ages, in most of the countries of Europe, it was a
received maxim, that by pricking any of the signs of the
Zodiac, certain events would follow in the life of men.
To prick the sign PISCES (the fishes) certain things con-
nected with the following matters would take place : —

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 135

1st, going abroad ; 2d, on subjects of commercial specu-
lation ; 3d, on questions of war or peace ; 4th, on national
questions of interest connected with the extensions of
kingdoms ; and 5th, relative to riches and poverty.

There were many curious tricks played with fish by the
necromancers of the middle ages, which are not known
now. One of the most famous of these was, that a man
was taken promiscuously from an audience, placed by
himself on a conspicuous platform, and, on the applica-
tion of the magician's wand, he was instantly seen riding
upon the back of a dolphin in the wide ocean. The
mode by which this was effected is now lost. The only
sleight-of-hand trick practised in London, in the present
day, is that of the bowl of fish. This is a glass bowl,
filled with nothing but clear spring water. A person is
called from the company, and requested to place a silk
handkerchief closely and tightly over the mouth of the
bowl. The necromancer then speaks, and requests him to
remove the silk blind from the bowl, when there are seen
several golden and silver fish swimming about in the water.
This is considered by artists as a difficult trick to play
off with suitable dexterity.

On the dramas connected with fish and fishing, much
might be written. We have already alluded to those
acted in Italy in the middle ages. In more modern
times we find similar productions, both in this country
and on the continent. In some of the comic pieces re-
presented at the theatres of Copenhagen and Stockholm,
fishers are made to play a part. There is a Dutch farce

136 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

called c The Water-Looking Glass* (Water- Spiegel) in which
an angler of the country is whimsically depicted in many
encounters with fish, and is at last made to ride over the
Schelde on the back of a huge salmon. He obtains a wife
by the singular exploit. Since the game laws (including
those relative to angling) have been rendered more stringent
in Trance of late years, several dramatic pieces have alluded
to the art of fishing. There is no small portion of wit in
many of these light productions. One of these called
( The Naiad of the Stream,' had a run of fifty nights in
succession, at one of the minor theatres of Paris, in the
early days of Louis Phillip e.

In 1839, we have the drama of Izaak Walton, performed
at the Royal Olympic, in London. It is a piece in four
parts. Old Izaak is represented as having a ward, Anne
Evelyn, who, to carry out her love plans, becomes dis-
guised as a milk-maid. In one part of the drama he says
to this young girl, " Come, love ! I have but a short night
before me ; for to-morrow's sun must rise on me at
Tottenham Cross. You know the gallant fisher's song: —

* In a morning up we rise,
Ere Aurora's peeping,
Brink a cup to wash our eyes,
Leave the sluggard sleeping ! '

Come. Peace, and good night to all."

The morning comes, he sets out with his rod, and
meets a parcel of gipsies, who sing the following glee : —

"Bright shines the sun — play gipsies, play,
Here's scraps enough to serve to-day j

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 137

The world is ours, and ours alone,
Eor we alone have world at will.
We purchase not — all is our own —

Both fields and streets we gipsies fill ;
Nor care to get, nor fear to keep,
Did ever break a gipsy's sleep !

Bright shines the sun — play gipsies, play,
Here's scraps enough to serve to-day ! "

The young gentleman, Arthur, in love with Izaak's
ward, is anxious to scrape an acquaintance with him.
The following dialogue explains the matter : —

Art. Nay, Sir, pardon me, the service was so trifling ;
besides, I have a reason, an urgent reason, why, just now,
I would conceal my name.

Iza. An honest one, I hope.

Art. A right honest one, good sir, believe me.

Iza. Well, I'm glad it is an honest one; for, as a worthy
young friend of mine, a brother fisherman — you're not a
fisherman, mayhap ?

Art. No, indeed, sir.

Iza. Poor young man ; but, as I was going to tell you,
this young friend of mine, one Cotton, says of me (and
faith he's printed it), " Father Izaak will be seen twice
in no man's company he does not like, and likes none but
such as he believes to be very honest men."

Art. Sir, I shall be the more honoured in your friend-
ship.

Iza. You have said enough to recommend you to my
best opinion ; but it's a pity you do not fish.

12 §

138 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

Art. I fish at second-hand.

Iza. Indeed ; how so ?

Art. I hunt the otter, and he hunts the fish !

Iza. Well said, young friend, and humorously, which I
like. I can be serious at seasonable times, but he who
will not mix some innocent harmless mirth with his dis-
course, must be a sour-complexioned man, indeed. I
begin to think myself happy in your acquaintance.

Art. If you thought me worthy, I should be proud to
become your pupil in the fisher's art.

Iza. I'll teach you willingly ; but by what name shall
I call you ?

Art. Being something of a hunter, I will strive to gain
your friendship under the title of " Venator."

Iza. Good — I like the conceit ; and I myself will
become better known to you and all as " Piscator."
Come, student !

Art. (off his guard.) Student ! Do you know me ?

Iza. Nay, you are to be my scholar in angling, are you
not ? I meant no offence by student. Think'st thou I
took thee for one of those brawling, good-for-nothing
students of the Temple ?

Art. I hope not, sir.

Iza. No, no ; but, as I said, come scholar, and I will
soon make thee in love with my art !

Art. (aside) I am in love with thy ward already !

Iza. No life, believe me, no life so happy and pleasant
as that of a well-governed angler ; for when the lawyer is

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 139

swallowed up with business, and the statesman is pre-
venting or contriving plots, we sit on cowslip banks, hear
the birds sing, and possess ourselves in as much quietness
as the silver streams which we see glide by us.

Art. I shall have the disorder badly, sir, I see — I have
taken the infection already.

Iza. I do rejoice thereat. Doubt not but that angling
is an art, and an art worth your learning — nay, the
question is rather whether you be capable of learning it.

Izaak's ward, Anne Evelyn, and Arthur, get upon a
fair footing; and before the curtain drops, the angler
delivers the following address.

Iza. Never heed what he says, boy. Ee not diverted

j ' j

from the course of just and honest ambition. One day,
perhaps, you will be Lord Mayor — but I fear, I cannot
reasonably ask my ward to wait till then. Let those who
have gained their ends, learn to be thankful — those less
fortunate learn to bear their disappointment — let yonder
gipsy get a plaster for his head, and learn to keep it out of
mischief for the future ; and now will I plant myself by
the stream of public opinion, and angle for your applause.
Let me but catch that, and ere I get behind the curtain
for the night, I will bestow upon you in exchange an old
angler's blessing. That every earthly happiness may
attend you, and, above all things, that the east wind may
never blow when you go a fishing, is the sincere wish
of the public's affectionate father and friend, IZAAK
WALTON.

140 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

In 1843, the c Queen of the Thames,' a piece in one
act, was represented at the Opera House, London. There
are five principal characters : — Michael Brayling ( a
wealthy bachelor, fond of fishing) ; Edward (a young
farmer) ; Bobby Bush (an errand boy) ; Elizabeth (a
young orphan) ; and Miss Elizabeth Pike (an unmarried
damsel of forty). The performance opens with singing —
" All, all is still,
O'er dell and hill,

The dawn is faintly glowing ;
Beneath its veil
Of twilight pale,

The silver Thames is flowing.

ELIZABETH appears at the lattice.
So, I, through Nature's soft disguise,

From thy dear side must rove,
Till midnight fall, and starry skies
Be-light me back to love.
JUliz. , . . Hush, hush, I pray,
Make no delay,

The dawn is softly breaking ;
The first bright ray
That here finds way

My guardian will be waking.

So, haste, through Nature's soft disguise,

And every fear remove,
Till close of eve, when starry skies
Be-light thee back to love.

[He kisses Us hand, and appears on the
bridge, when Miss PIKE, her night-
cap on, opens her window, L. H.
Observing.

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 141

Miss P . . So, here's a pretty piece of news,

A man there, I declare !
Or does the mist my eyes confuse ?
Yes, yes, — a man, — I swear.

Mich, (through window, dressing by a candle.)
I hear the cock crow on the gate,

I catch old Sol's first beam;
Then up at once, my hook to bait,

And hasten to the stream.

Sob. — (A.t loophole yawning.)

I hears my master's voice, O, lor'!

I've scarcely closed my eyes ;
One hardly gets a single snore,
Before it's tune to rise."

Miss Pike gives the following description of Michael
Brayling : —

" Miss P. Ah, I hear your voice, Mr. Michael Brayling
— getting up by candle-light as usual, to go a fishing ;
always angling, angling, from year's-end to year's-end.
What a loss of time ! much better marry some kind
opposite neighbour ; matrimony affords excellent amuse-
ment in wet weather ; better than fishing under a bridge,
or an umbrella ! Indeed, I think you'd do as well to stay
at home, if it were only to watch your chit of a ward,
Elizabeth, that you think so highly of — um ! I've my
opinions, but what they are, I'll leave you to guess,
Mr. Michael Brayling. Ah, he's coming, the queer old
Bachelor. I wouldn't have him see me in my nightcap,
for all the fish in the Thames. [Exit.

14.2 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

Enter MICHAEL, trimming a line, from Cottage. R.

Mich. [sings\.

With my rod on my arm, to the streams I'll away,
The birds are awake, and the fishes at play,
I'll wander and troll, &c.

" What a beautiful morning ; who could look upon a
scene like this, and not feel his heart overflow with thank-
fulness. Old Thames seems to invite the early boatman
to sing and rejoice upon his crystal bosom, and the
fisherman to repose and contemplate amongst his beds of

rushes.

ARIA.— Michael.

Oh, clear and winding river,

How I love thy silver stream ;
When sun-rays on thee quiver,

Catching all the rainbow's gleana.
My heart with thee discourseth,

As my feet thy torrents lave :
And my very soul rejoiceth,

In the music of thy wave.
Thou art my book, oh river,

In thy margin page I scan ;
Whose bright work floweth ever,

For the benefit of man.
I would thy soft voice murmur,

Past the turf that wraps my grave ;
For I feel my rest were calmer,

Near the music of thy wave.

" Not that I've exactly made up my mind to die just
at present ; no, no, I hope to tickle many a trout before

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 143

that hour arrive. Egad ! I'd better think of being
married, before I thing of being buried. I was thinking
of being married yesterday, when that confounded pike
nearly pulled me head foremost into the water, and swam
off with my best hooks in his gills."

The notion about the loves of fish has been often dwelt
upon by writers, and been the subject of many fabulous
and absurd speculations. According to Gomesius, " Fishes
pine away for love, and become lean." (Pisces ob amorem
marcescunt, pallecunt, &c. — De Sale.) And in many parts
of the east and north of Europe, even at the present day,
there are vague notions floating in the minds of the rural
population, about young maidens holding interesting
conversations with fish, as they frequent the streams and
reservoirs for water.3

We are told by Pliny, that a dolphin fell in love with a
boy called Hernia, and when he died, the fish came on
land, and immediately expired.4 Another author men-
tions a similar thing taking place in Egypt. A dolphin
loved a child so intensely that it would come out of the
water, and run after him, and would even jump upon his
back, and be carried about with him. But when the child
became sick, and died, the dolphin died likewise.5

On the charming of fish, we extract the following,
from a work called The Wonders of Nature and Art, pub-
lished at Berwick-upon-Tweed, by E. Taylor, about

3 Hist. Anim ; Leipsic, 1621. folio.

4 Lib. 10. 5 Gellius, lib. 10.

144 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

seventy years ago : " In the straights of Sicily, every year,
at the month of May, and no other time of the year, they
fish in an extraordinary manner, not in use in any other
part of Europe, for a large sea-fish, called sword-bearers,
because they have a bone which resembles a sword with
teeth.

"A fisher sings certain words, made to a particular tune,
adapted to the purpose, in order to allure the fish, and
enchant it with this music ; as soon as ever it appears
upon the surface of the water, it is taken. One of the
most experienced fishermen, as well as strongest, fastens
a three-pointed iron to the end of a rope, one end of which
he ties about his arm, and then stands upright upon the
fore part of the boat, while another man who stands by
him, calls and allures the fish with words, songs, and antic
gestures. No sooner does the fish hear him, but it mounts
to the surface of the water, and as soon as ever it appears,
the other fisherman darts his iron at it with his whole force,
and with admirable dexterity, throwing out the cord at the
same time. When he has caught the fish he lets it move,
and flounce about in the water, till it has lost all its blood,
and is so exhausted as to be able to swim no longer.
Then he draws it up into the boat, where the other fisher-
man deprives it of the remains of life."

Montaigne relates of the Scams fish " having swallowed
the fisher's hooke, his fellowes will affectionately and
presently flocke about him, and nibble the line asunder,
and if any of them happen to be taken in a bow-net, some

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 145

of his followers will put his tail in at the neck of the net,
who with his teeth fast holding the same, never leave him,
until they have pulled him out. Barbies, if one of them
chance to be engaged, will set the line against their backes,
and with a fin they have, toothed like a sharp saw, pre-
sently saw and fret the same asunder."

In the narrative of St. Brandan, in one of the poetical
effusions of the Anglo-Norman Trouveres, we find that
the wandering saint met in his travels with Judas Iscariot,
who was undergoing his punishment in the infernal re-
gions ; sometimes placed in the midst of burning pitch
and sulphur, and sometimes doomed to sit upon a naked
and desolate rock in the frozen regions. But what excited
the saint's curiosity not a little was a cloth bandage which
Judas had placed around his head. On inquiring the
purpose of it, the traitor affirmer/ that it was an effectual
charm with the ferocious fish among which he was often
doomed to be thrown ; that when they snw it around his
head they were deprived of the power of biting him.
This shield of protection was obtained because he had once,
when on earth, given a piece of cloth to a naked beggar ;
and this deed of chanty was not allowed to pass without
its reward.

Some writers have gone upon the opposite tact, and
ascribed revengeful feelings to the finny tribes. A great
number of legends are taken up with these topics in the early
and middle ages. Geraldus tells a story, that in Normandy,
a few days before the death of Henry TI, the fish of a

13

146 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

certain pool near Sees, five miles from the castle of Exme,
fought during the night so furiously with each other in
the water and out of it, that the neighbouring people were
attracted by the strange noise to the spot ; and, so
desperate was the conflict, that scarcely a fish was found
alive in the morning. " Thus," says the author, " by a
wonderful and unheard-of prognostic, foretelling the death
of one by that of many."4

Akin to the loves and hatreds of fish, a portion of
the literature of angling is devoted to the fascination
or charming of them. We find recipes for this purpose
in nearly all the works on fishing published in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There have been
entertained the most singular opinions on this subject
in all countries. Becke, in his book on c Angling/ Leipsic,
1606, tell us, that if we take a gold ring and look
through it with one eye at a trout, in a clear pool of
water, for the space of two minutes consecutively, the
fish will be quite fascinated, and you may go and take it
out of the water with your hand. The number of
compounds for baits, to intoxicate and charm the finny
tribes, are almost innumerable ; and many of the instruc-
tions for making and using them, in English works, are
given in rhyme. We shall select the two following as

curious.

4 Geraldus, lib. i, p. 6.

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 147

A RECIPE TO CATCH FISH.

To make all the fakes in a pond to come to tJiy hand.—
Tak pal ma Christ! and frankandsence, and medel hem.
togedir, and put hit in a fome clowte, and holde the pouder
in thi finger that a gold ryng is upon, and wasch thy
hond in every corner of the pont, fisches wolle come
to thi honde. — From a MS. on vellum, of about the year
1400, in the possession of J. O.Halliwell, Es%.

" Wouldst thou catch fish ?

Then take this wish ;

Take this receipt,

To anoint thy bait.

Thou that desirest to fish with line and hook,
Be it in poole, in river, or in brooke.
To bless thy baite, and make the fish to bite,
Loe ! here's a means, if thou canst hit it right j
Take gum of life, fine beat, and laid to soak,
And oyle well drawn, from that which kills the oake ;
Fish when thou wilt, thou shalt have sport thy fill,
When twenty fail, thou shalt be sure to kill.

Its perfect and good

If well understood j

Else not to be told

For silver or gold."
It. E. 1613. From a MS. in the British Museum.

A volume might be filled of the Fairy Tales, about,
and connected with fish. We shall briefly allude to two
or three.

148 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

The Fair Maid of the Golden Locks. A gilded trout lay
one sunny day upon the banks of a stream. A fair lady
passed by, and said, " you shall be rewarded at no distant
time." A king had fallen in love with her; but she had
made a vow of perpetual celibacy. In passing over a
river, she accidentally let her glove fall into it, and also
a ring which she wore. The royal personage still con-
tinued his importunities; but she as steady kept by her vow.
At length she was induced to say to him, I will marry
you, " if you can find a certain ring which I dropped into
the river some time ago." The king sent his secretary to
seek after it. He stood at the brink of the stream. The
little golden trout made its appearance, with the lady's
ring in its mouth; and the consequence was that the
monarch sat aside the fair maid's vow.

The various tales connected with fish, and fishermen,
interspersed throughout the Arabian Nights, need not be
here enumerated. Every one is acquainted with them.

The tale called TJie Lambton Worm is a very old one,
though full of the grossest absurdities. The head of
this family, then a young man, went out one Sunday to fish.
He caught a very small eel, which, thinking it not worth
while to carry home, he carelessly threw into a small pool
of water. He was called to the Holy Wars. In his
absence the eel grew to such an enormous size that the
produce of seven milk cows would scarcely keep it.
Many tried to kill it, but as fast as they cut it to pieces,

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 149

they as readily joined together again. When young
Lambton returned from the wars, he was greatly troubled
at hearing of this little eel he had caught ; and foreboding
something ill from it, he applied to an old witch in the
neighbourhood. She told him he must obtain an armour
of razor-blades ; and on his going out with it, to attack
the monster eel, he was to kill the first living animal he
met. He made a compact with his father, that a grey-
hound should be let loose, for the purpose of expiation ;
but from some cause or other the scheme miscarried, and
his father himself was the first thing he met with his
armour of razor-blades. But he revolted from the thought
of killing his own parent. He went to the water to kill
the eel ; which had now got into the main river again
He cut it to pieces ; and as they separated one by one,
they were floated down the stream, and the monster was
no more. But as a punishment for fishing on the Sabbath
Day, and for not implicitly obeying the orders of the
sorcerer, to kill the first living thing he should meet, none
of the Lambton family were to die in their beds for seven
generations ; a prediction, the tale says, which was literally
fulfilled.

There is a tale called " The Witch of the Isle of Lochs,"
and a multitude of Irish stories, of a similar kind, to which
the reader will find more or less amusement.

The following is another story, which is taken almost
verbatim from the Italian of the sixteenth century : —

13 §

150 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE.

There was once a fisherman who lived with his wife in
a ditch, close by the sea-side. The fisherman used to go
out all day long a-fishing ; and one day, as he sat on the
shore with his rod, looking at the shining water and watch-
ing his line, all on a sudden his float was dragged away
deep under the sea ; and in drawing up he pulled a great
fish out of the water. The fish said to him, " Pray let
me live : I am not a real fish ; I am an enchanted prince,
put me in the water again, and let me go." " Oh I" said
the man, " you need not make so many words about the
matter ; I wish to have nothing to do with a fish that can
talk ; so swim away as soon as you please." Then he
put him back into the water, and the fish darted straight
down to the bottom, and left a long streak of blood be-
hind him.

When the fisherman went home to his wife in the ditch,
he told her how he had caught a great fish, and how it
had told him it was an enchanted prince, and that on
hearing it speak he had let it go again. " Did you not
ask it for anything ?" said the wife. " No," said the
man, "what should I ask for?" "Ah!" said the wife,
"we live very wretchedly here in this nasty stinking ditch ;
do go back, and tell the fish we want a little cottage."

The fisherman did not much like the business : however,
he went to the sea, and when he came there the water
looked all yellow and green. And he stood at the water's
edge, and said,

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 151

" O man of the sea !
Coine listen to me,
For Alice my wife,
The plague of my life,
Has sent me to beg a boon of thee ! "

Then the fish came swimming to him, and said, " Well,
what does she want ?" " Ah !" answered the fisherman,
"my wife says that when I had caught you, I ought to
have asked you for something before I let you go again ;
she does not like living any longer in the ditch, and wants
a little cottage. " Go home, then," said the fish, " she is
in the cottage already." So the man went home, and
saw his wife standing at the door of a cottage. " Come
in, come in," said she ; " is not this much better than the
ditch? " And there was a parlour, and a bed-chamber,
and a kitchen ; and behind the cottage there was a little
garden with all sorts of flowers and fruits, and a court-
yard full of ducks and chickens. " Ah !" said the fisher-
man, " how happily we shall live !" " We will try to do
so at least," said his wife.

Everything went right for a week or two, and then
Dame Alice said, " Husband, there is not room enough in
this cottage, the court-yard and garden are a great deal
too small ; I should like to have a large stone castle to
jive in; so go to the fish again, and tell him to give us a
castle." " Wife," said the fisherman, " I don't like to go
to him again, for perhaps he will be angry ; we ought to
be content with the cottage." " Nonsense !" said the
wife j "lie will do it very willingly ; go along, and try."

152 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

The fisherman went ; but his heart was very heavy :
and when he came to the sea, it looked blue and gloomy,
though it was quite calm, and he went close to it and said,

" O man of the sea !
Come listen to me,
For Alice my wife,
The plague of my life,
Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee ! "

" Well, what does she want now ? " said the fish.
" Ah ! " said the man very sorrowfully, " my wife
wants to live in a stone castle." " Go home then/'
said the fish, " she is standing at the door of it al-
ready." So away went the fisherman, and found his
wife standing before a great castle. " See," said she, " is
not this grand ?" With that they went into the castle
together, and found a great many servants there, and the
rooms all richly furnished and full of golden chairs and
tables.

The next morning when Dame Alice awoke it was broad
daylight, and she jogged the fisherman with her elbow,
and said, " Get up, husband, and bestir yourself, for we
must be king of all the land." " Wife, wife," said the
man, " Why should we wish to be king? I will not be
king." " Then I will," said Alice. " But wife," answered
the fisherman, " how can you be king ? the fish cannot
make you a king." " Husband," said she, " say no more
about it, but go and try ; I will be king ! " So the man
went away quite sorrowful to think that his wife should

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 153

want to be king. The sea looked a dark grey colour, and
was covered with foam as he cried out,

" O man of the sea !
Come listen to me,
For Alice my wife,
The plague of my life,
Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee !"

" Well, what would she have now ?" said the fish,
"Alas!" said the man, "my wife wants to be king."
" Go home," said the fish ; " she is king already."

Then the fisherman went home ; and as he came close
to the palace, he saw a troop of soldiers, and heard the
sound of drums and trumpets ; and when he entered in,
he saw his wife sitting on a high throne of gold and dia-
monds, with a golden crown upon her head ; and on each
side of her stood six beautiful maidens, each a head taller
than the other. " Well, wife/' said the fisherman, " are
you king ?" " Yes," said she, " I am king." And when he
had looked at her for a long time, he said, " Ah, wife 1
what a fine thing it is to be king ! now we shall never
have anything more to wish for." "I don't know how
that may be," said she, " never is a long time. I am king,
'tis true, but I begin to be tired of it, and I think I should
like to be emperor." " Alas, wife ! why should you wish
to be emperor?" said the fisherman. "Husband," said
she, " go to the fish ; I say I will be ernperor." He soon
arrived at the sea, and the water was quite black and
muddy, and almighty whirlwind blew oyer it ; but he went
to the shore, and said,

154 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

" O man of the sea !
Come listen to me,
For Alice my wife,
The plague of my life,
Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee !"
" What would she have now?" said the fish. " Ah,"
said the fisherman, " she wants to be emperor." " Go
home," said the fish ; " she is emperor already."

" Husband," said she, " I will be pope this very day."
At this the fisherman was terribly frightened, and trem-
bled, so that his knees knocked together : but he went to
the shore and said,

" O man of the sea !
Come listen to me,
For Alice my wife,
The plague of my life,
Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee I"

"What does she want now !" said the fish. "Ay !"
said the fisherman, " my wife wants to be pope." " Go
home," said the fish, " she is pope already."

Then the fisherman went home, and found his wife
sitting on a throne that was two miles high ; and she had
three great crowns on her head, and around stood all the
pomp and power of the Church ; and on each side were
two rows of burning lights, of all sizes : the greatest as
large as the highest and biggest tower in the world, and
the least no larger than a small rush-light. " Wife," said
the fisherman, as he looked at all this grandeur, " Are you
pope ?" " Yes," said she, " I am pope. Husband, go to

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 155

the fish and tell him I want to be lord of the sun and
moon." The fisherman was half asleep, but the thought
frightened him so much, that he started and fell out of
bed. "Alas, wife !" said he, " cannot you content to be
pope ?" " No/' said she, " I am very uneasy, and cannot
bear to see the sun and moon rise without my leave. Go
to the fish directly.55

Then the man went trembling for fear ; and said,
" O man of the sea !
Come listen to me,
For Alice my wife,
The plague of my life,
Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee !"

"What does she want now,55 said the fish. "Ah!"
said he, " she wants to be lord of the sun and moon."
" Go home,55 said the fish, "to your ditch again!" And
there they live to this very day.

There have been many versions of this story, from first
to last, in English literature. There is a poem, embellished
with twenty coloured engravings, published at Exeter, by
Cole and Gendall, about the latter end of the last century.
It is called " The Fisherman and his Wife." We have
likewise the same kind of story, in March's Standard
Tales for Youth, called "The Wish and the Fish," published
in London, in 1854.

The interpretation of dreams has been extensively con-
nected with angling and fishing generally.

To dream you are fishing is a sign of sorrow and trouble ;

156 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

if you catch any fish, you will be successful in love and
business ; if they slip out of your hand after you have
caught them, it is a sign of some pretended friend who will
deceive you.

To look long, when angling on smooth water, is a sign
of some impending or threatened trouble.

It is a bad omen to meet an old woman in the morning,
when going out to angle. It betokens a total failure of
spirit,

In Germany it is considered unfavourable weather for
fishing, if many falling stars have been observed the pre-
vious evening.

EPIGRAMS.

A man being drown'd,

Was ne'er again found,
" Sure he's gone the way of all flesh."

Then another did reply,
" Sir, this I do deny

Sure he's gone the way of all fish."

Only look how poor Timothy's visage is broken !
He's stupid and dull, for this month he's not spoken :
He used to be merry, and jolly, and gay —
He tippled by night, and he giggled by day —
He hunted and angled, he danced and he swore,
He'd all that could make him quite happy, and more.
But now he's deprived of all these during life —
It serves the fool right — for he's married a wife /

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 157

IRISH ANGLING.
An Irishman fishing one day in the Liffey,

Which runs close by Dublin's great city so fine.
A smart show'r of rain falling, Pat, in a jiffey,

Crept under the arch of the bridge with his line.
" That's never the way to accomplish your wishes,"

Cries Dermot, " the devil a bite '11 you get — "
" Sure my honey," cries Pat, " don't you know that the fishes
" Will swim under here, to keep out of the wet.'1

A GERMAN ALLEGORY.

A young girl is a fishing rod, the eyes are the hook,
the sweet smile is the bait, the lover is the gudgeon,
and marriage is the butter in which he is fried. — Berlin
Magazine, 1854.

It is with lovers as it is with anglers, who feed fish
till they are caught, but caught once, feed on them ; so it
will be long enough ere she will bite at the bait, unless a
lover has more to bait her with than fine words, or
lamentable complaints. — Mecknoe.

CHARADE.

Cut off my head, and singular I act ;
Cut off my tail, and plural I appear ;
Cut off my tail and head — oh ! wondrous fact,
Although my middle's left, there's nothing here.
What, is my head cut off? — a sounding sea.
What, is my tail cut off ? — a flowing river.
Far in the ocean depths, I fearless play ;
Giver of sweetest sounds, yet mute for ever.

14

158 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

ANSWER.

From the word Cod take the letter C,

Odd you will appear — and odd indeed you'll be.

From the word Cod take the letter D,

That will leave a Co — or plural company.

Take the C and D, and O will then remain.

O is nought, and nought is O — most positive and plain.

C is every sounding — the Dee a flowing river —

Cods are in the ocean — but cods' sounds chatter never.

If my guess is right, I trust you will confess it,

And as a premium sought a cod, and quite drop it.

CONUNDRUMS.

When is a nosegay a fish ? — When it is smelt.

Why is a stingy man like a salmon ? — Because lie is
scaly.

With what musical instrument would you catch fish ? —
Castanet (cast a net).

What two fishes get most frequently trodden upon ? —
Soles and (h)eels.

When is a sharp lady's comb like a live lobster's claw ?
— When it is tortoise- shell.

Why is an oyster the most contradictious thing there
is ? — Because he's got a beard without a chin, and you
are obliged to take him out — to tuck him in.

When is an apple like a fish? — When it is a crab.

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 159

VALENTINES FOE 1854.

THE FISHERMAN.
Thou monster of the salt-sea shore
Shark- snouted fisherman, what cheer ?
You'll cast your nets for me no more,
Loves-boat hook won't hitch me 'tis clear ;
And plainly as your own jack-boots,
You'r king of all salt-water brutes.
No, by the wideness of thy grins,
And by thy pins and scabby hide —
You may catch haddocks, plaice, or gulls ;
But you'll never catch a Bride.
Gro — sea-gull, go — I'll ne'er incline — •
To such a cod's-head valentine. 1854.

FROM A FISHMONGER.
Thy skin is as whiting, thy eyes

As bright as the scales of my fish,
My turtle, my sole, thee I prize,

Accede then, I pray to my wish ;
Nay fish not for compliments, for,

Sprat-like, I am void of all grace,
Your etiquette ways I abhor,

To grandeur I always give plaice.

ANSWER.
Sir, as a flounder, I am flat,

And have been so through all my life ;
So flatly tell you — worthless sprat,

I'll never become your wife ;
If you would wish to meet a kind one,
Perhaps at Billingsgate you'll find one.

160 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

THE ANGLER.

Patience, how great thou art in man,

The Angler has brought his rod and can,

To fish for a supper, no matter how little ;

Only look ! he has fish'd up an old tin-kettle.

Take a friend's advice, to end all strife,

Mind your business at home, as you value your life.

THE FISHERMAN.

Crabbed beast, when first I saw thee —

Like a gudgeon — I was caught —
And lobster like, I fain would claw the

Like a cod-head cheaply bought :
But yourjotvl — to my own thinking —

And your plaice could ne'er be mine ;
Dabs and flounders — soles all stinking

Could not form a valentine.
When you spake of fine fresh salmon,

And I lent a willing ear,
Something whisper' d plainly, " Gammon" —

And my nose said " all was queer :"
Pickled wilks and periwinkles

To the rude taste may be fine ;
But, old wide-chops — here my pen drops —

And I close my valentine.

We find in that curious work entitled Leonis Alatii
de Graecorum Jiodie quorundum opinationibus, published
at Cologne in 1645, that mention is made of a popular
idea among the Greeks, that a certain kind of fish, like an
eel (some interpret as a snake), frequented the waters, and

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 161

exercised a decided influence over the destinies of those they
addressed. These inhabitants of the waters were called
Stacltia (<?TOi%e7ov). It was considered a great crime to
ill-use them, or treat them with contempt.

The following popular song, given by M. Fauriel in his
Chants Populaires de la Grece Moderne, mentions the
stoechion of a river —

" Kopdviov sTaayovdrifffv iirdvu ve
Kai TO ye^upi pdyrjffe, Kcti TO Trora/u
Kal TO ffToixeibv TOV TroTapov K' avTo 'Q rr\v O.KQ'
Kopty fjLov, TTOL-^e TOV a%6v, K' eiTre K' aXXo Tpayovdi.
*A% ! 7r<3<; VCL 7rd\jju) TOV a^ov, K d\\o va TTUJ Tpayovdi ;
"E%a> TOV dvdpa p dppuffTov, K dppuffTiicbv yvp

" A little girl was singing upon a bridge,
And the bridge cracked, and the river stopped,
And the stoechion of the river himself came to the bank :
* My girl, desist from this (mournful) air, and sing another song.'
' Alas ! how can I desist from this air, and sing another song ?
My husband is sick, and I seek a remedy.' "

In another song in this collection, the strechion appears to
a musician, in the form of dragon, ready to devour him
for having disturbed its repose.

The stoechia were often seen playing about the mouths
of wells and springs, particularly where the water issued
from long ranges of caverns like chambers ; which seems
to have been not unfrequently the case in Chios.

This author, L. Allatius, tells us a long legendary story,
taken from Greek MSS., about a monster that was called

14 §

162 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

Oj who devoured people's children. It was hunted
throughout the country, but being closely pursued, it in-
stantly changed itself into a fish, and its pursuers became
fishers that they might capture and destroy it.

There are many allusions in the oldest of our Saxon
legends to dreadful encounters with fish. In the poem
of Beowulf one of these fierce conflicts is very circum-
stantially related. Beowulf is a hero seeking adventure,
and doing his best, and displaying herculean feats in rid-
ding the world of dangerous and savage monsters of every
kind. He is supposed to have lived in the fourth and
fifth century, and to have belonged to the Angles, one of
the northern tribes inhabiting Sleswic and Jutland prior
to the Saxon settlement in England. The Hero has a dia-
logue with one Hunferth, who is envious at his fame and.
success ; and Beowulf, to maintain his character for real
daring and valour, addresses him thus ; giving an account
of his exploits in the deep witli its fierce and savage finny
monsters.

Beo-wulf mathelode, Beowulf spoke,

beam Ecg-thedwes : the son of Ecgtheow :

c Hwaet ! thu worn fela * Lo ! thou for a long time

wine min Hunfer [th], my friend Hunferth,

beore druncen, drunken with beer,

ymd Breean sprsece hast discoursed concerning Breca,

ssegdest from his sithe j hast spoken respecting his journey ;

sdth ic talige I tell thee the truth,

thset ic mere-strengo that I possess

niaran ahte, more of strength on the sea,

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC.

163

earfetho on ythum,

thonne senig other man.

Wit thset ge-cwaedon

cniht-wesende

and ge-bedtedon

(wseron begen tha git

on gedgoth-feore),

f-hset wit, on gar-secg lit

aldrum nethdon,

and thaet ge-sefadon swa.

Hsefdon swurd nacod,

tha wit on sund redn,

heard on handa ;

wit unc with hron-fixas

werian thdhton.

!Ne he wiht fram me

fldd-ythum feor

fledtan nieahte,

hrathor on holme,

no ic fram him wolde j

tha wit set-[s]omne

on see wseron

fif nihta fyrst,

oth thset unc fldd td-draf,

wado weallende,

wedera cealdost,

nipende niht,

and northan [w]ind,

heatho-grim and-hwearf :

hreo wseron [y] tha.

Wses mere-fixa

mod on-hrered :

of laboriousness on the waters,

than any other man.

We two had said that,

when we were boys,

and had promised

(we were still both

in the prime of youth)

that we out on the ocean

would venture our lives,

and that we accomplished thus.

We had our naked swords

hard in our hands

when we rowed upon the deep ;

we thought to defend ourselves

against the walruses.

He could not, in any degree,

more swift on the deep,

swim far from me,

over the waves of the sea :

I would not from him.

There we two together

were on the sea

the space of five nights,

until the flood drove us asunder ;

the boiling fords,

the coldest of storms,

the darkening night,

and a wind from the north,

fiercely turned us away :

rough were the waves.

The courage of the sea-fishes

was excited :

164 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

thser me with lathum there my body-garment,

lic-syrce min, hard-locked by the hand,

heard hond-locen, gave me aid

helpe ge-fremede j against foes j

beado-hrsegl broden my twisted war-dress

on bre<5stum laeg, lay upon my breast,

golde ge-gyrwed. furnished with gold.

Me to grunde teah The variegated enemy

fah feond-scatha ; drew me to the bottom;

fseste hsefde he had me fast

grim on grape : grim in his gripe :

hwsethre me gyfethe wearth, nevertheless it was granted me,

thset ic ag-lsecan that I the villain

orde ge-rsehte, reached with my weapon,

hilde-bille ; with my war-bill ;

heatho-rses for-nam the mighty sea-beast

mihtig mere-dedr received the war-rush

thurh mine hand. through my hand.

Swa mec ge-lome Thus me frequently

lath-ge-tednan my hateful foes

threatedon thearle j threatened vehemently ;

ic him thenode I served them out

dedran sweorde, with my dear sword,

swa hit ge-defe was. as it was right I should.

Nses hie thsere fylle By no means they of the slaughter

ge-fean hsefdon, had any joy —

man-for-dsedlan, the wicked villains,

thset hie me thegon, that they meddled with me,

symbel ymb-sseton that they set upon me all at once,

sse-grunde neah. near the bottom of the sea.

Ac on mergenne But on the morning,

mecum wunde, wounded with swords.

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 165

be yth-lafe they lay aloft

uppe laegon, on the beach,

swe[ordum] a-swefede ; put to sleep by the sword,

thaet syththan na that they have never since

ymb bront[ne] ford, hindered from their way

brim-lithende the sea- sailors

lade ne letton." about the bubbling fords."

In this manner Beowulf continues to expatiate on his
valour against the nickers, and other sea-monsters, of
whom he boasts of having killed nine ; and he concludes
by insinuating, that had Hunferth himself been as valiant
as he would have people believe him, the grendel would
not have infested so long the court of Hrothgar. After
having spent the day in festivities, Beowulf and his com-
panions are left to guard the hall during the night, where
they are visited by the grendel, who attacks Beowulf,
supposing him to be asleep : after a terrible struggle he
receives a mortal wound, and flies precipitately to his
retreat. Amid their rejoicings upon the destruction of
their persecutor, the followers of Hrothgar are visited
during the following night by another monster, the
grendel's mother ; who revenges the grendel by the death
of -ZEschere, the monarch's favourite counsellor, and returns
to her den. Beowulf consoles the Danish king, by offer-
ing to pursue her thither ; he finds that her abode is under
the water, whither he descends, and finally returns vic-
torious. The king loads him with gifts, and he returns
to his own country. This completes the first part of the

166 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

poem, which reaches to the twenty-eighth canto; the
latter part of which, with the whole of the twenty-ninth
and the beginning of the thirtieth, appear to have perished
by mutilation of the manuscript. Afterwards we have a
new story ; that of the last expedition of Beowulf, now
old and monarch over his people, against a fire-drake
which molested them, and of his death in the encounter.5
In the poetical writings of the Anglo-Norman Trou-
veres, we have a class of the same stories, relative to
heroic exploits with monstrous fish of the sea, that had
the singular power of coming on land, and doing incre-
dible mischief to the human family. " The Voyage of
St. Brandan" is one of these mediaeval productions. He
was an Irish saint, and is supposed to have flourished in
the fifth or sixth century. His voyage had for its object
the discovery of the land of Paradise, from whence Adam
was expelled. St. Brandan sets sail with a number of
monks, and the party meet with the most singular ad-
ventures. Among the number was one that describes
their landing on an island where there was nothing but
sheep, of prodigious size.

" Sheep with fleece of snowy white,

And much they marvelled at their height,

For each one was as large to see

As are the stags of our countrie."

The party were anxious, in such a suitable locality, to
hold their Paschal feast ; and they took one of the huge

5 On Anglo-Saxon Poetry. Fraser, 1835.

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 167

lambs, had it cooked ; and, on an angel sending them a
sufficency of good bread, they made a very excellent repast.
But ere they were away, the island they were upon seemed
moving fast, and going further, and further from the ship.
The saint, who was on board saw that it was in reality
no island at all, but a huge beast or fish. The ship was
steered towards the frightened monks ; and their leader
addressed them thus : — •

• " Brothers, know well

Wherefore this strange mischance befel,
No land was that, but monstrous least 6
Whereon you sought to hold your feast :
Nor marvel thus why this should be,
Hugest of all are fish in sea,
For they were formed by heaven's great king,
Before all other earthly thing."

On the festival of St. Peter, St. Brandan chants the
service so delightfully, ih&tfahes of all sorts and sizes are
attracted by his singing. His monks, who seem to have
been more engaged in looking about them, than in at-
tending to their abbot, go to him, and pray him to sing
lower, for " so clear is each wave, where the sea is deepest,
that we see as though upon earth, both fishes innumera-
ble, and fishes great and cruel, that we scarcely dare to

6 The word "beste" was constantly employed by writers of the
times for any large fish. In the Scriptures we have the phrase
c< beasts of the sea ; " and Milton, in the Paradise Lost, uses the
word " sea-beast."

168 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

speak of them, for if the noise disturb them, know you
that killed we shall be." 7 This cowardly counsel does
not suit St. Brandan ; he rebukes them for their needless

fear and

" He sang more high, more loudly clear, —
The salvage fishes, him to hear,
Leapt from the sea, and round they wait,
As they the feast would celebrate ;
Thus sang he till the close of day,
And then each monster went his way."

The saint afterwards encountered a dreadful finny
monster, which is thus related.
" Toward them a serpent of the sea
Bushed swift as wind most savagely —
The fire that from his nostrils came
Was like the roaring furnace flame,
Unmeasured was his length I trew —
His very breadth was huge enew,
Full fifteen feet, and all around him
The waves were seething. Nought could found him,
He near the frighted pilgrims drew ;
Then Brandran spoke : right bold and true
His words — 'O sirs, now wherefore stand,
Fearing that God's all powerful hand

7 " Q.uar tant cler est chascun unde
O la mer est plus parfunde,
Que nous veium des que en terre
Et de peissuns tante guerre, —
Peissuns veium grans, et cruels,
Tine n'eimes parler de tels."

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 169

Is short to save ! O guard, I pray,

'Gainst senseless fear, that would gainsay

God's word, and take this truth away, —

Who puts his trust in Heav'n's high King,

Hath need to fear no living thing.'

Then lo, another monster rose,

That huge sea-serpent to oppose —

Bight toward the ship his swift course steering,

And when the other saw him nearing,

Full well I trew his foe he knew,

And backward from the vessel drew.

And now they close in deadly fight,

With huge heads rear'd, a fearful sight !

While from their nostrils flames spout high,

As are the clouds in the upper sky ;

Blows with their fins each gives his brother,

Like clashing shields on one another ; —

With murd'rous teeth each other biting,

Like trenchant swords each other smiting.

Spouted the blood, and gaping wide

Were teeth prints in each monster's side ;

And huge and deadly deep each wound —

And blood-tinged all the waves around,

And all a -seething was the sea,

And still the fight raged furiously.

The first now fought with failing might,

The second triumphed in the fight.

With stronger teeth he overbore him,

And into three huge pieces tore him, —

And then, the victory gained, he goes

Back to the place from whence he rose."

BlacJcwood? s Mag. 1836.
15

170 ANGLING LITERATURE IN

The same kind of marvellous stories of fish, have not
lost all their relish, even in modern times ; as witness the
following : —

" A gentleman was fishing in the north of England, and
saw a crow flying near the surface of the river, swallowed
by a salmon, that leaped up at it. Amazed at this, he
pulled off his hat, and fixing it to a rope, which lay near,
threw it upon the stream ; after some time the fish swal-
lowed it likewise ; upon which he endeavoured to pull it
to the shore, but the fish had such strength as to drag him
backwards and forwards (though assisted by another
person) upwards of four miles. At last fixing the rope to
the tree, and procuring a couple of horses, they brought
it to. When they cut it open, they found in it a crow,
and a young lamb, which is supposed to have fallen into
the stream, as they were carrying it over in a boat. The
salmon weighed independent of its contents, between ten
and twelve stone. This was in the newspapers four years
ago." — Extracted from The Wonders of Nature and Art,
published at Berwick-on-Tweed, by R. Taylor.

AN ACCOUNT OF A LARGE EEL.

Sometime ago in the last century, the farmers near
Yeovil, whose fields lay contiguous to the river, suffered
greatly by losing vast quantities of hay ; for which
several people were taken up on suspicion of stealing the
same ; what added to the surprise of every one was, that
the hay missing did not appear to be cut, as it usually is,

CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 171

but pulled out as if by some beast, but that appeared a
little improbable, as several loads were lost in the space of
a few nights ; a circumstance so alarming to the farmers
induced them to offer a considerable reward to any who
should discover how their hay was destroyed.

A company of soldiers quartered then at Yeovil, some
of them for the sake of the reward, undertook to find out
the affair. They made their intention known to the
people injured, who readily accepted their offer ; and a
night was fixed on, to begin their watching, in order to
make a discovery. The appointed time came, and a
dozen of the soldiers after eating and drinking plenti-
fully at the respective farmer's houses, went on their
new enterprise with bayonets fixed, and muskets charged,
as if going to engage an enemy. They had not been long
in ambush before one of them espied a monstrous creature,
crawling from the side of the river, towards one of the
stacks of hay ; he instantly told his comrades. A council
was immediately called, and they all unanimously agreed,
if the bear devoured any of the hay, that two of them
should get behind the stack, and fire at it, while the others
dispersed themselves at different parts of the field, in order
to intercept it, if it escaped their comrades vigilance ;
but the precaution was needless, for the soldiers fired
their pieces with such dexterity that they soon laid the
monster sprawling. This done all ran to see what was
slain; but the moon not shining very bright, their curi-
osity could not be satisfied; though some of them said

172 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

it must be the devil, in the shape of a snake. Highly
pleased with this exploit, they hastened to the farmers
and made known how well they had succeeded in their
enterprise.

Next morning all the neighbours round, with the
farmers, their servants, and the soldiers, went to see this
amazing creature, and to their no small astonishment,
found it to be a prodigious eel, which, it is supposed, not
finding subsistence in the river, came out (ox-like) and fed
on the hay. Its size was such, that the farmers ordered
their men to go and harness eight of their best horses,
in order to draw it to one of their houses, which with
difficulty they did. When they got it home, the soldiers
desired leave to roast it, there being a large kitchen with
two fireplaces. This request was granted; and after
cutting it in several pieces, fastening each piece to a young
elm tree, by way of spit, they put it down to roast. It
had not been above an hour before the fire, until there
was as much fat ran out of it, as filled all the tubs, kettles,
Sec., in the house, which put them under the necessity of
going out to borrow ; but at their return they found the
inundation of grease so prodigious, that it was running
out at the key-hole and crevices of the door. — The Wonders
of Nature and Art, Berwick-on-Tweed, 1780.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 173

CHAPTER VIII.

Angling Literature of the Eighteenth Century.

WRITINGS on angling increased considerally in this
century, both in prose and in verse. We have The Genteel
Recreation ; or, the Pleasures of Angling, by John Whiting,
1700 ; The Innocent Epicure; or, the Art of Angling, 1701 ;
Piscatory Eclogues, by T. Ford, D.D., originally written
in Latin, and dedicated to Archbishop Shelden. This
work was translated by Tipping Silvester, M.A., Oxford,
1733.

In the days of Charles II, and for many years after his
death, it was a common practice for ladies about the
court to angle in St. James's Park. Of this fact we have
many proofs ; and among others, the following elegant
lines from a poem on St. James's Park, by Waller : —

" Beneath, a shole of silver fishes glides,
And plays about the gilded barges sides ;
The ladies angling in the chrystal lake,
Feast on the waters with the prey they take ;
At once victorious, with their lines and eyes,
They make the fishes and the men their prize."

The best satirical piece on angling, that appeared early
in this century, 1708, was The Contemplative Angler, by
the well-known Ned Ward, the author of the Turkish Spy.
In some particular spots it is rather coarse : but this

15 §

174 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

Was the prevailing vice of both the author and his
age. There have been many imitations of this piece in
modern times ; but they all come far short of the wit and
vivacity of the original. It is unquestionably one of the
finest specimens of the irony and satire, which so often
beset the angler in his pursuits, that we have, either in
this or any other language.

" How beauteous do the azure side appear,
How bright the sun shine, how serene the air ?
How green and pleasant is each flow'ry mead,
Where teeming Nature does her bounty spread ?
How the calm streams in soft meanders glide,
And whisp'ring kiss the osiers as they slide ?
With what submission do the verdent weeds
Upon the surface bow their humble heads,
And pointing downwards, as the waters flow,
Seem to direct the way the stream should go :

How blest do all things Z ds a jolly bite ;

Efaith I've lost him : pox of Fortune's spight.
I thought him once my own, but now he's gone ;

What a d n'd fool was I to strike so soon ?

He was a thumping devil by his weight : "\
A murrain take him, he has gorg'd the bait ; C
This hook's too small to hold a fish so great, j

Once more have at thee : now for better luck ;
There's a fresh worm to tempt thee to the hook,
But if thy jaws are prick' d, then farewell fish,
I ne'er shall see thee butter'd in a dish :
Tor fish once wounded, from the bait retire,
As the burnt child will always dread the fire.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 175

How fertile are the banks on which I stand,
With flow'rs adorn'd by Nature's gen'rous hand ?
How kindly they defend the neighb'ring grounds,
And keep the swelling floods within their bounds,
Whilst bleating flocks upon their edges graze.
And with cool herbs prolong their happy days ?
How good is bounteous heaven, to bestow
Such mercies on its creatures here below ?

O bless ! adsheart, what a huge jack is there !

O that I had iny troling-line or snare :
What a dull thoughtless fool was I to come,
Thus, bungler-like, and leave my tools at home P
Sure my cross stars with Fortune's frowns unite,
What a rare supper shall I lose this night ?
Nouns, I could leap upon thee, and bestride
Thy brawny back, and like Orion ride :
How quick he's fled, as if the rogue could hear
My murm'ring threats, and shot away for fear.
'Tis well thou'rt gone, or I'd have found some way
To've stop'd thy journey, and have forc'd thy stay :
For thou art grown to such a large extent,
That butter ought to be thy element.

Bless us ! what flights of starlings tow'r aloft,
And how the pidgeons cover yonder croft ?
What shame it is they should in triumph feed,
And to the farmer's wrong, devour his seed.
Had I my gun, I'd wish no fairer sight ;

What slaughter could I wounds ! A bite, a bite.

I've miss'd again, but this loss is not much,
'Twas but a minnoe, or some puny roach.
Some nibling fry that scarce could sink the float,
Not worth the dressing if he had been caught.

176 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

"Tis true, tho' small, a dozen of such fish
Might have been us'd for garnish round the dish.
But let me go, I've time 'twixt this and night,
To fill my bag with thumpers, if they'll bite.
Not that I'll be so proud to scorn the less,
The sporting fry the number will encrease.
For what we anglers murder, small or great,
We always count by dozens not by weight.
Now for a carp of eighteen inches long.
I'd shew him sport, I know my tackle's strong.
Ere now, with this same single hair and rod,
I've weigh' d a carp as big as any cod.
Hold, I believe I stretch a little there,
However, 'twas a monstrous fish I'll swear :
I'm sure it din'd full twenty men at least,
And was esteem' d a very sumptuous feast :
Nay, there was more than all the guests could eat,
But 'twas indeed help'd out with butcher's meat.

Bless me ! How sweet does yonder skylark sing,
As up aloft she tow'rs upon the wing ?
The glories of the day delight her eyes,
And make her from the earth in triumph rise.
But now she to her utmost pitch is flown,
She stops her note, and drops in silence down.
So the proud fav'rite does at court rejoyce,
And as he rises makes a wondrous noise ;
But soaring higher than he ought to fly,
With broken wings he pitches from on high.

How brisk and gay ! — Adsheart my float is drown'd ;
Now for a fish that weighs at least a pound ;

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 177

Pox on't, 'tis a ground-bite, my line is lost,
Was everman with such ill fortune crost :
A murrain take those weeds that lurking lye,
The curling surface hid them from my eye.
Chear up ; this bodes no good, I must confess,
Tho' I've more tackle to supply its place.
But I'll remove from hence to yonder nook,
And not split twice upon one fatal rock.

So, let me see ; Ay, this I think will do,
Here's a fine shade, and a deep water too.
This is a likely place as heart can wish,
The devil's in't if here I catch no fish.
There I lie well, if fortune be but kind,
I'll shew her sport, altho' the gypsy's blind.
When in one post we've disappointments found,
'Tis wisdom for a man to change his ground.

How finely does this shady willow spread,
And from the scorching sun defend my head ?
Sure 'tis some Daphne chang'd into a tree,
To save her beauty from pollution free ;
And that she might, by being turn'd to wood,
Escape the fury of some lustful god.
O that I had my Mariana here,
With what delight could I embrace my dear :
Who could a more obscure retirement find ?
The place by Nature seems for love design' d.
No envious eyes could interrupt our joys,
What am'rous pair could make a safer choice ?

None but the gods, and silent fish could see,
What pasa'd betwixt the blushing Nymph and me.

178 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

0 that I had her struggling in my anus,
Ho»w kindly could I warm her melting charms.
By bugs and vows decoy the pretty fool,
And fish for joy in love's delightful pool.
But this, alas, is but an idle dream, ,
HaisM by the hilling whispers of the stream j
Whose pleasing murmurs do my soul inspire
With gentle love, and kindle up desire.

A bite, a swinging fish, a pox of love.
Well struck, he's mine, I have him fast, by Jove*

1 dare not weigh him he's so large, I fear
He'll snap my line, that's but a single hah* :
Hang it, I'll try, now Fortune give me luck ;
Adsdeath, he's sheard my line and gorg'd my hook.
He was a bouncing rogue, so monstrous big,

He row I'd about and tumbl'd like a pig.

Nouns, that my line should break and let him go.

Fortune's a whore to tantalize me so.

What man can such a loss with patience bear ?

Such cursed luck would make a parson swear.

This is a fretting plague, a double hurt ;

Fve lost at once my booty and my sport.

My lines and hooks are gone ; I'm ruin'd quite,

Just as the perch and trout begin to bite.

Had it not been for this confounded fish,

I'm certain I had caught a noble dish.

Besides, my wife may lose her longing by't,

I told her she should sup of fish this night,

And since I've none to carry home, I fear

She'll think, poor girl, I had 'em dress'd elsewhere,

So teaz herself that I should prove unkind,

And with her own mistakes disturb her mind.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, 179

However, I have one reserve at last,
To save my credit, and delight her taste :
Til to the miller step, for a small sum
He'll cast his net, and send me loaded home.
For he that disapoints a longing wife,
Adds thorns and briars to a marry 'd life.
For wives as well as concubines we find,
No longer than they're humour' d will be kind."

Moses Browne followed, in about three quarters of a
century, the footsteps of Walton, of whose work he was
a passionate admirer and commentator, and, in several
respects, an imitator. Browne wrote his Eclogues, in
the summer of 1727, and they were well received, and
ran through several editions in the course of a few years.
The Eclogues are preceded by an ably written essay in
defence of Piscatory Eclogue , in which the writer endea-
vours to prove, that angling conies fairly within the range
of pastoral poetry. He sees no reason why it should be
generally restricted to shepherds, husbandmen, planters, or
vine dressers ; for says he, " It might be imagined that
angling, an exercise so gentle, and such a friend to con-
templation, should need no argument to recommend it to
the regard and favourable sentiments of the wise and
thinking man ; it seems so free from the hazard and
fatigues of other recreations, and those ill habits arid
disorders many of them breed in mind and body, that one
would think it was the innocent diversion of the infant
world, and the readiest, most naturally suggested subject
for pastoral poetry to be employed in it. It has charms

180 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

to captivate the most illustrious, as well as the more
humble, and to be equally loved by the most contrary
minds."

His Eclogues are nine in number : — On Fishing Seasons ;
On Night Fishing ; On the River Enemies to the Trout and
the Salmon ; The Sea Swains ; On an Angler being crossed
in Love ; The Angler's Song ; The Strife ; The Fowlers ;
and lastly, The Complaint ; ory The Friends.

Gay, the author of the Fables and The Beggar's Opera,
employed his pen on angling pursuits. The following
quotations will show how the author handles the
subject :

" As in successive course the seasons roll,
So circling pleasures recreate the soul ;
When genial spring a living warmth bestows,
And o'er the year her verdant mantle throws ;
No swelling inundation hides the ground,
But crystal currents glide within their bounds ;
The finny brood their wonted haunts forsake,
Float in the sun, and skim along the lake ;
With frequent leap they range the shallow streams,
Their silver coats reflect the dazzling beams j
Now let the fisherman his toils prepare,
And arm himself with every watery snare j
His hooks, his lines peruse, and careful eye
Increase his tackle, and his rod re- tie."

THE FLY.

" Mark well the various seasons of the year,
How the succeeding insect race appear,

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 181

In their revolving inoon one colour reigns,

Which in the next the fickle trout disdains.

Oft have I seen a skilful angler try

The various colours of the trech'rous 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 weaving forest throw ;

When if an insect fall (his certain guide)

He gently takes him from the whirling tide 5

Examines well his form with curious eyes,

His gaudy vest, his wings, his horns, and size ;

Then round his hook the chosen fur he winds,

And on the back a speckled feather binds ;

So just the colours shine through ev'ry part,

That Nature seems to live again in art."

THE WORM.

" You must not every worm promiscuous use,
Judgment will tell the proper baits to chuse.
The worm that draws a long immod'rate size
The trout abhors, and the rank morsel flies.
And if too small, the naked fraud's in sight,
And fear forbids while danger does invite j
Those baits will best reward the fisher's pains,
Whose polish' d tails a shining yellow stains ;
Cleanse them from filth to give a tempting gloss,
Cherish the sully' d reptile then with moss :
Amid the verdant bed they twine, they toil,
And from their bodies wipe their native soil."

Several of the most able and popular of our poets

16

182 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

mention with commendation the art of angling. Pope
.says :

" In genial spring, beneath the quivering shade,
Where cooling vapours breathe along the mead,
The patient fisher takes his silent stand,
Intent, his angle trembling in his hand ;
With looks unmov'd, he hookes the scaly breed,
And eyes the dancing cork and bending reed.
Our plenteous streams a various race supply,
The bright-ey'd perch with fins of Tyrian dye ;
The silver eel, in shining volumes roll'd,
The yellow carp, in scales, bedrop'd with gold ;
Swift trouts, diversified with crimson stains ;
And pikes, the tyrants of the wat'ry plains."

Thomson, the author of the Seasons, was, in his younger
days, a zealous and successful angler. He was born and
educated at the village of Ednim, in Roxburghshire, which
is situated on one of the finest little streams that run
into the Tweed, and is full of the richest trout in that
part of the Scottish border. The following elegant lines
are from the pen of this much and deservedly admired
poet, —

" Now, when the first foul torrent of the brooks,
Swell'd with the vernal rains, is ebb'd away ;
And, whitening, down their mossy- tinctur'd stream
Descends the billowy foam, now is the time,
While yet the dark-brown water aids the guile
To tempt the trout. The well dissembled fly —
The rod, fine tapering with elastic spring,

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 183

Snatch' d from the hoary stud the floating line,
And all thy slender wat'ry stores prepare ;
But let not on thy hook the tortur'd worm
Convulsive twist in agonizing folds,
Which, by rapacious hunger swallow'd deep,
Gives, as you tear it, from the bleeding breast
Of the weak, helpless, uncomplaining wretch,
Harsh pain and horror to the tender hand !"

" When, with his lively ray, the potent sun
Has pierc'd the streams, and rous'd the finny race,
Then, issuing cheerful to thy sport repair j
Chief should the western breezes curling play,
And light o'er ether bear the shadowy clouds.
High to their fount, this day, amid the hills
And woodlands warbling round, trace up the brooks ;
The next pursue their rocky- channel' d maze
Down to the river, in whose ample wave
Their little Naiads love to sport at large.
Just in the dubious point, where with the pool
Is mix'd the trembling stream, or where it boils
Around the stone, or from the hollow'd bank
Reverted plays in undulating flow,
There throw, nice judging, the delusive fly ;
And, as you lead it round in artful curve,
With eye attentive mark the springing game.
Straight as above the surface of the flood
They wanton rise, or, urged by hunger, leap,
Then fix, with gentle twitch, the barbed hook 5
Some lightly tossing to the grassy bank,
And to the shelving shore slow dragging some

184 ANGLING LITERATURE OF

With various hand proportion* d to their force.
If yet too young, and easily deceiv'd,
A worthless prey scarce bends your pliant rod.
Him, piteous of his youth, and the short space
He has enjoy' d the vital light of heaven,
Soft disengage, and back into the stream
The speckl'd captive throw ; but, should you lure
[From his dark haunt, beneath the tangled roots
Of pendant trees, the monarch of the brook,
Behoves you then to ply your finest art.
Long time he, following cautious, scans the fly,
And oft attempts to seize it, but as oft
The dimpled water speaks his jealous fear.
At last, while haply o'er the shaded sun
Passes a cloud, he desperate takes the death
With sullen plunge : at once he darts along,
Deep struck, and runs out all the lengthen' d line,
Then seeks the farthest ooze, the sheltering weed,
The cavern' d bank, his old secure abode,
And flies aloft, and flounces round the pool,
Indignant of the guile. With yielding hand,
That feels him still, yet to his furious course
Gives way, you, now retiring, following now,
Across the stream, exhaust his idle rage,
Till floating broad upon his breathless side,
And to his fate abandon' d, to the shore
You gaily drag your unresisting prize."

There were a considerable number of angling works
published during this century, both in London, and in the
country ; but they are mostly of a very commonplace
order \ and consequently unworthy of any particular notice.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 185

They were dull and formal compilations from works pre-
viously published, displaying but a very small modicum
of literary talent and originality.

The same remarks may also be applied to angling works
on the continent. There were but few printed during this
century ; but in all that has fallen in our way, we discover
nothing but a very meagre display of common-place tech-
nicalities and rules.

16 §

186 VARIOUS REMARKS ON THE

CHAPTER IX.

A brief notice of some Literary Effusions on the Inhumanity
and Folly of Angling, as an Art.

DR. JOHNSON'S famous definition of an angling rod,
which we have not been able to see in any old folio edition of
his Dictionary — has long been a standing joke against
anglers ; " that it was a stick, with a fool at one end, and
a hook at the other." The Doctor considered fishmongers
persons entirely devoid of feeling, and he cites as an evi-
dence of this opinion, that when once passing a fishmonger's
shop, where a man was skinning an eel, " he cursed it be-
cause it would not lie still." l

It is a good and just rule to hear both sides of a ques-
tion ; and as the great majority of works on angling — in
fact, we may say nearly all treatises on the subject — are
more or less laudatory of the sport, — it is but in accord-
ance with our notions of impartiality, to notice a few
lucubrations of an opposite character. We do not enter,
however, into the controversy in a serious mood ; but have
chiefly confined our selections of such productions as treat
of the matter of fish and fishing in a good-tempered spirit
of banter, raillery, or fun. The angler's art stands so
high in public estimation ; — he has so large a measure
1 Croker's Boswell, vol. vii, p. 253.

INHUMANITY OF ANGLING. 187

of indulgence shown him that it would betray great
peevishness of temper to get out of humour with a few
sneers or dull jokes from those, who, generally speaking,
have no knowledge of the art they are slighting.

There have been some witty attacks on fishing written
in Holland, from time to time, within the last two
centuries. There was one piece, in verse, published at
the Hague, about sixty years ago, which took the subject
of the eastern transmigration of souls as the foundation
of its satirical strictures ; and the writer made out a very
funny article at the expense of the angler and his art.
Similar productions, though little known, are to be found
both in Trench and Italian literature.

The following effusion is from the pen of the well-
known Peter Pindar.

" BALLAD TO A FISH IN THE BROOK.

Why fliest thou away with fear ?

Trust me there's nought of danger here j

I have no wicked hook,
All covered over with a snaring bait,
Alas ! to tempt thee to thy fate,

And drag thee from the brook.

Oh, harmless tenant of the flood,
I do not wish to spill thy blood ;

For nature unto thee
Perchance has given a tender wife,
And children dear, to charm thy life,

As she hath done to me.

188 VARIOUS REMARKS ON THE

Enjoy thy stream, oh harmless fish,
And when an angler for his dish,

Through gluttony's vile sin,
Attempts — a wretch — to pull thee out,
God give thee strength, oh gentle trout,

To pull the rascal in."

" TO ANGLERS.

0 take away that wily treacherous hook !
Why are the harmless tenants of the brook —

Secure, poor things, till now amongst each other-
To be of cold barbarity the sport ?
Perhaps each fish that from the flood you court

May mourn its parents kind — a sister— brother !

It makes HUMANITY, sweet maiden ! weep
To see the wanton sportives of the deep

Torn from the pleasures of their silv'ry bed ;
It makes her sigh to mark the dipping float
The hidden captive's agony denote,

And all its little social comforts fled.

1 love to see the gudgeon and the bream
Thread the wild mazes of their native stream,

And unmolested thro' each thicket stray ;
I love to see the dace, in shining pride,
Now rush arnid the fierce impetuous tide,

And now upon the tempting surface play.

INHUMANITY OF ANGLING. 189

'Tis not for man to lift his murd'ring arm
Against an artless unoffending swarm —

To wage unequal combat with a fish.
So much, believe me, liberty I prize,
I'd rather on their freedom feast my eyes,

Than view them smoking on the glutton's dish.

The worm that writhes, too, on the barbed steel
Knows not less pain than does the culprit feel

When legal Vengeance drags him to her den ;
His well-knit limbs, his nerves, his sinews firm,
Defy not torture better than a worm :

Reptiles are flesh and blood as well as men.

Enough for me, if, while I roam at ease,
And taste, dear Isis ! on thy banks the breeze

That wantons there upon its silken wings ;
Health's genial hand her bounty shall bestow
And on my cheek impress the vivid glow,

And all the charms the lovely goddess brings.

Farewell, my rod ! and to my lines farewell !

No more shall sports like these my bosom swell —

No more shall ye to cruelty invoke me.
Perhaps some fish with patriot rage may burn,
Perhaps some trout be savage in its turn,

And, dying for its injured brethren, choke me ! "

J. T.

190 VARIOUS REMARKS ON THE

" To J. T.

IN HASTY ANSWER TO HIS ADDRESS c TO ANGLERS.'

I like the strain in which you plead the cause
Of sweet HUMANITY'S indulgent laws,

And hail each finny tribe as sister — brother !
Extend this principle to every dish,
To flesh, and fowl, as well as toward fish,

How would men live ? — by eating one another ?

'Tis a fine horse on which you've got astride,
HUMANITY'S a pretty horse to ride ;

Faith, you may gallop till quite out of breath :
But I confess, my worthy friend J. T.,
'Tis an establish'd principle with me,

HUMANITY would starve a man to death.

Tho' I acknowledge all that you affirm
In vindication of the writhing worm —

Thou great ATTOENEY-G-ENEEAL of the brook ! —
The world in common this example set :
The fish, perhaps, too crafty for the net,

May grasp temptation and forget the hook.

Why from the native forest take the deer ?
Free, unmolested, let them wander there,

The inoffensive burghers of their city. —
Why downy rabbits from their warren tear ?
Or why with dogs pursue the timid hare ?

Say, gentle Sir ! now is it not a pity ?

INHUMANITY OF ANGLING. 191

Why to the slaughter drag the bleating lamb ?
On ducks, geese, turkeys, fowls, voracious cram ?

Why slay the noble ox ? — 'tis vile ! 'tis cruel !
HUMANITY, sweet maid 1 would have us dine,
Like prodigals — on pea- shells, with the swine,

And have for Sunday's dinner water -gruel !

Yet, sympathetic Sir ! I've little doubt
But you can pick a tender bit of trout,

Or masticate a perch, a tench, or salmon :
And tho' you say the gudgeon, dace, or bream,
You'd rather see amid their native stream —

In vulgar phrase — excuse me, Sir ! — 'tis gammon ! "

" And hark ! the savage huntsman's horn!
And hark ! on mountain echoes borne
The cruel gun's unhallow'd yell —
And see ! within yon darksome dell
The sneaking angler steals along,
Arch-torturer of the finny throng ! 2
By yonder crown of vestal snow,
That binds the Jungfrau's virgin brow, —
By yonder swooping eagle's nest,
On Finsteraarhorn's trackless crest, —

2 " On looking at the portrait of * The Complete Angler,' in
Major's splendid edition, I was not surprised to find that CETTELTY
was the prevailing expression in the physiognomy of the much-
bepraised Izaak Walton, who spitted his frogs alive as though he
loved themS'—Frazer's Mag. 1835.

192 VARIOUS REMARKS ON THE

Fly for your lives, I charge you — fly !
For, when to-morrow comes, if I
Find one of you by one o'clock,
I'll fell him with my Alpenstock ! "

A few years ago there was an affair came before the
Lord Mayor of London, relative to what was called
" pegging " the lobsters. The necessity of this heathenish
custom, it was alleged, arose from the quarrelsome pro-
pensities of the fish themselves, which, when removed from
their native element, and thrust indiscriminately into
baskets, squabbled and macerated one another in a frightful
manner. This judicial inquiry gave rise to a good deal of
merriment. We have from Frazer's Magazine, for 1835,
some droll and whimsical lucubrations on the subject. We
insert the passage with some slight alterations and omis-
sions.

" It is far from my wish, my lord-mayor and gentlemen
of the corporation, to utter one word which could, by the
utmost ingenuity of malignant criticism, be construed into
an impertinent interference with the culinary arrangements
of civic hospitality. Still, much as I respect prescriptive
usage ; deeply as I admire a liberal indulgence in the feast
of reason and the flow of soul ; heartily as I enjoy the
delights of jovial intercourse ; I trust there is, and ever
will be, one consideration more strongly exciting my re-
spect, my admiration, and my purely pleasurable emotions
— I mean, the consideration of a just and generous sym-

INHUMANITY OF ANGLING. 193

pathy with unmerited suffering. This it is, my lord-mayor
and gentlemen of the corporation, which induces me to
remonstrate with reference to the barbarous process by
which certain animals are prepared for the luxurious
palates of the princely merchants of this metropolis. I am
not about to detain your lordship, and the gentlemen of
the corporation, with the well-known cruelty of crimping
cod ; because that practice has been already powerfully
denounced by the pen of Mrs. Hannah More. But I do
think, that the cases of the oyster and the lobster are
eminently deserving of attention. Nor can I doubt that
such attention being once directed to the subject, many
gentlemen, aldermen, and others, will perceive the pro-
priety of coming to a definitive arrangement, whereby
persons of poetical sensibility may be relieved from the
painful necessity of sitting down to a feast for which the
most heartless cruelty has manifestly catered. In the hope
of realising so laudable an object I have written the two
following poems ; and I doubt not, my lord -mayor and
gentlemen of the corporation, that if you peruse them
carefully, a very palpable change will take place in the
nature of those preparations to which luxurious feeders
are now so discreditably indebted. I will only add, that
if one case of cruelty is prevented by my poetry, I shall
be amply rewarded for the intellectual exhaustion always
experienced, in a greater or less degree, by the enthusiastic
votaries of the muse.'3

Not to weaken the force of this spirited appeal by any

17

194 VARIOUS REMARKS ON THE

speculation of our own, we proceed at once to quote the
poems thus introduced : —

" THOUGHTS OF AN OYSTER SEATED ON A GRIDIRON.

They 've borne me afar from my native bed,

Where " such a beauty I did grow,"
And from dredger to dealer, in bustle and dread,
I 've been tumbled about till I wish'd myself dead ;
And now, by my beard, I am pretty well sped,

For my frame's in the devil's own glow !

So ho ! what the plague is this piercing my shell ?

Sure 'tis flame rising hotter and hotter !
Why, an oyster of quality might just as well

Take kitchen-floor lodgings in fire-eating h ,

Or make up his mind, like a mumchance, to dwell

In the mullock-stowed maw of an otter!

Accurst is my fate ! I'm all shrivelled up !

Never more shall I rest on the banks
Where, before love was crost, I oft tasted the nup-
Tial delight to be drawn from the conjugal cup ;
Now I'm doomed to be dished that some boobies may sup,

And fatten their indolent flanks.

O, Neptune ! oh, Venus ! release a poor oyster,

Who swears in the heat of devotion,
For the rest of his life, like a monk in a cloister,
He '11 shrink in his shell from the touch of the Roister,
And never (if once he get back) heed the hoister

Who'd tempt him to leave the green ocean.

INHUMANITY OF ANGLING. 195

Vain, vain is my prayer! The powers will not save !

I 'm fated in flame to expire !
So I '11 die like a hero, as modest as brave.
My beard is now singed — without water I shave —
Contented my carcass I give to the grave,

While my spirit flares up with the fire ! "
# # # #

Oh you, whom broiled oysters at supper delight,

Remember this dying one's moan 5
And whenever to chambers you chance to invite,
Or at gay civic feasts are for 'making a night,'
Be sure that no shell-fish, in desperate plight,

Hath curst you with death's frantic groan."

What effect this singular production may have on the
reader we know not. For ourselves we can, in perfect
candour, declare, that (though much addicted to the luxury
here denounced) we shall never behold a broiled oyster in
future without bearing shuddering testimony to the truth
and power of Baron Bolland's portrayal of this ruthless
torture of unoffending innocence. So, also, of the lobster.
The piteous squeaks of this devoted creature would, we
think, take away the appetite of any young lady or gen-
tleman whose hearts are not yet indurated by the demora-
lising influence of dining out. But on this point we shall
let Baron Bolland speak in his own soul-piercing language.
His poem is somewhat quaintly entitled The Negro's dying
Blush, and reminds one, in its metrical structure, of
Cowper's verses, entitled The Negro's Complaint. In one
particular, the poet of the Task and the learned judge

196 VARIOUS REMARKS ON THE

present a strong resemblance. They are both the generous
and eloquent advocates of an unfriended race, whose
sufferings they deplore in strains of the tenderest and the
most sympathetic character. Cowper's poetic plaints were
not poured in vain. Though that amiable and melancholy
man did not live to witness the realisation of his own be-
nevolent designs, still his admirers have the satisfaction of
feeling that to him, and to the late editor of the Anti-Slavery
Reporter, the individuals in black are mainly indebted for
that beautiful dispensation of contemplative comforts, so
embarrassing to his excellency the Marquess of Sligo.
But to Cowper and Pringle the lovers of poetic justice
will point, when tracing these great results to their orig-
inal causes. So, also,

*' On some fair future day,
Which fate shall brightly gild,"

when lobsters shall be emancipated from the barbarous
laws instituted by luxurious palate-servers, Baron Bolland
will be quoted by his admiring countrymen as one of the
first and most enlightened advocates of humanity and
considerate feeling.

" THE NEGRO'S DYING BLUSH.

See the flames with fury glowing !

Hark the water hissing hot !
Bubbling high and overflowing,

Revelling in the lobster's lot.

INHUMANITY OF ANGLING. 197

List his first and latest screeching,

As his thoughts to madness rush,
Mercy from the Fates beseeching,

Boiling with unconscious blush.

Is there, mighty Jove ! a lady,

Lovely, gentle, fair, and young,
Who could, while thus his black grows fady,

And his deep'ning blush more strong,
Endure the thought of lobster-salad ?

Or dream of ord'ring lobster- sauce ?
No! rather would she write a ballad,

Lamenting sore that lobster's loss.

Sweet, indeed, are lobster-patties !

Passing sweet is lobster- soup !
But let me ask you whether that is

Cause why we should lobsters coop
In caldrons, while they're 'live and kicking,

Arrayed in native suits of black,
Which they must change to tempt your picking,

And redden o'er from breast to back ?

Oh, ye youth of both the sexes !

Bethink you how a lobster boiling
Abhors the bath, in which he vexes

His tortured limbs with bootless toiling !
And when people laud his colour,

With beating heart and shaking head,
Inform them how, 'mid frantic dolour,

He dying gained that lively red I "

17 §

198 VARIOUS REMARKS ON THE

" * ANGLERS ! ye are a heartless bloody race.1
'Tis thus, the half-souTd sentimentalist
Presumes to apostrophise us to the face 5
Weak, paltry, miserable antagonist !
To deem by this compassionate grimace
He doth sweet service to humanity,
And yet when of his fellow's misery, —
Of wars, of pestilence, and the woes that chase
Mankind to the interminable shore
He hears, to treat them with a hasty sneer,
Nor let their shrill appeal disturb a tear
Or one emotion waken in his core !
It is too much ! Anglers, your cruelty
Is tend'rer than this man's philanthropy."

T. S. STODDAET.

ANGLING.

" Then there were billiards ; cards too ; but no dice ;

Save in the clubs no man of honour plays ; —
Boats when 'twas water, skating when 'twas ice,

And the hard frost destroy'd the scenting days ;
And angling, too, that solitary vice,

Whatever Izaac Walton sings or says ;
The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb in his gullet
Should have a hook, and a small trout to pull it."

Don Juan.

"It would have taught him humanity at least. This
sentimental savage, whom it is a mode to quote (amongst
the novelists), to show their sympathy for innocent sports
and old songs, teaches how to sew up frogs, and break

INHUMANITY OF ANGLING. 199

their legs by way of experiment, in addition to the art of
angling, the cruelest, the coldest, and the stupidest of
pretended sports. They may talk about the beauties of
nature, but the angler merely thinks of a dish of fish ; he
has no leisure to take his eyes from off the streams, and a
single bite is worth to him more than all the scenery
around. Besides, some fish bite best in a rainy day. The
whale, the shark, the tunny fishery have something of the
noble and perilous in them ; even net-fishing, trawling, &c.,
are more humane and useful — but angling ! No angler
can be a good man." — Lord Byron, Notes to Canto 13.

THE ADVENTURES OF A SALMON.

" After having wintered in the central region of the
Atlantic, in a depth of about ten miles, which no storm
could disturb, and where the smoothness of the sands, the
calmness of the water, and the luxuriant richness and
variety of vegetation, made the most delightful life for
nine months of the year, while all on the surface was raging
tempest or bitter frost, the necessity of providing for my
offspring in the river, in which I first saw the light, drove
me most reluctantly upwards. As our column of about a
hundred millions approached the shores, we found sufficient
reasons to regret the delightful regions which we had left
below. Instead of the pure water in which it was a luxury
to move, we shrunk from the half warm, half corrupt
surface ; we were disgusted by the smell of the decayed
vegetation poured down by the rivers, and were all but

200 VARIOUS REMARKS ON THE

choked, by the mire which discoloured the emerald clear-
ness of the ocean for leagues. At last we reached our
allotted rivers ; but here new evils awaited us ; vast troops
of dog-fish, sharks, and seals awaited our coming, rushed
upon us, and devoured thousands before our eyes. But
our numbers were incalculable, and we pushed on. At
length I shot up my native stream, and on gliding into
the nook where I was born, felt some of the sensations
natural to home. As I was the largest and most powerful
tenant of the stream, I had no fear of rivalry ; I swept
through all its depths and recesses with the delight of
novelty, tasted its fresh herbage, sheltered myself from the
heat under the shade of its drooping willows, and at
will sported in the sun. But one day, as I was
darting with the speed of an arrow and the rapture of
full animation, through the centre of the stream that
rippled in silver under a breeze perfumed with the
fragrance of a thousand flowers, I was startled by the
sight of a monster such as I had never seen before. It
was of indescribable ugliness. Instead of the brilliant
sheating, the diamond scale, and the rainbow painting, to
which I had been accustomed in the tribes of the ocean,
its clothing was of the colour of the dingiest mire.
Instead of the lightning rapidity, ease and grace of the
fin, it rowed, or rather tottered, on two singularly shapeless
props ; its employment seemed as idiotic as its figure was
deformed. It stood sometimes gazing at the sun, some-
times at the water, stretching out its arms, alternately

INHUMANITY OF ANGLING. 201

with a look of dull intenseness, and holding a long reed
which it helplessly waved backward and forward, like one
of the willows under the breeze. My first sensation was
alarm, but I saw that the monster dreaded the water, and
I despised him for his impotence. My next was disgust
at his deformity. I gave a final glance, dashed the waters
with my tail in scorn, and darted away. But let my
folly be all told. That glance was fatal. I saw at the
same moment, just touching the waters, one of the most
delightful flies that imagination had ever shaped, for the
banquet of an epicure. I was an epicure. And his blue
wing, purple body, and golden crest would have fascinated
the most self-denying eye. I was young, rash, ardent,
and hungry. I made but one spring at the temptation, and
seized it at the moment. But to my inexpressible surprise
J felt a singularly sharp pang in the very act of seizure.
I plunged into the depths of the river. But the pang was
there and everywhere. Still I plunged on. But I sud-
denly found a strange check. At once furious and
frightened, I plunged on. But the check grew more
powerful as I grew exhausted. And at last, yielding to
fate, I found myself rapidly drawn back through the
channel which I had traversed which such speed. The
sensation in my throat now grew more torturing than ever.
At last, judge of my horror when I saw the monster
standing on the bank above me. His miry covering
seemed more miry than ever, the props on which he
tottered more tottering, but his countenance was distended

202 VARIOUS REMARKS ON THE

with a hideous look of triumph. It was not hunger like
my own about to be satiated, for the wretch had a rotun-
dity of stomach which showed me that he was already
gorged. It was not poverty about to make gain of me,
for I saw it throw coin to a crowd of young monsters
standing on naked props, to venture into the water where
I lay and seize me. It was sport. That detestable
passion which belongs to such two-legged monsters alone \
the unaccountable disregard of others' pain, the unac-
countable enjoyment of seeing a creature endowed with a
thousand faculties of life and pleasure finishing them all
in agony. I was in torture. But the more I writhed
the more the monster was evidently delighted. Every
fibre of my throat was torn. I felt alternately the dead-
liest chill and the most scorching flame. My eyes started
from their sockets. My heart panted in wild spasms.
My flesh quivered as if poison had been dropped on every
scale. A sudden and violent pull, which forced the steel
into my very brain, dragged me on the bank. Here I
felt a new scene of misery. In the next moment my
whole frame burned as if coated in fire. The air, no
longer softened by the water, seemed to me all flame. The
sun, untempered by the shade, looked a vast furnace
stooping from the sky. The horrors of that moment
defy all conception. Fortunately they were brief — life
could bear no more — I gave one wild convulsion, and lost
all sense of being. Yet as I gave my last groan I could
faintly hear a ' hurrah' and the words, ' a five-and-twenty

INHUMANITY OF ANGLING. 203

pounds fish at least — capital sport !' uttered by the crowd
of monsters in mire round me.

" How long I remained in this condition I have no
means of knowing ; but I began to feel a sudden sensation
of life. I looked round and saw myself in a basket on a
bed of wet grass, whose coolness and moisture had pro-
bably restored me. I now saw the monster take the
basket from his back, and, laying it on the ground, wipe
his heavy brows, and mutter .' confoundedly hot, and five
miles more to walk. It was good sport, no doubt, to
catch this fine fellow; but I am sick of fish. I have had
fish enough since I came on this stupid visit to make me
loathe the sight of it on the table. Well, I dine at the
corporation feast to-day. This fellow will cut a figure
among the turtle and turbot. To the corporation he shall
go.' As I looked at the monster's bloated visage, and
heard his reckless speech, a throb of indignation shot
through me. What ! was I to be curtailed of my exis-
tence, mutilated and mangled only to fill the stomachs of
a herd of clowns, already pampered with gluttony?
Indignation gave me new strength. I made one tremend-
ous bound, sprang up in the monster's face, and to my
measureless joy felt that I descended in the river. One
thing alone was now wanting to my triumph. It was not
wanting long. The monster, startled by my parting blow,
lost his balance, toppled off the bank, and fell headlong
into the stream. He roared like a bull, and struggled

204 VARIOUS REMARKS ON THE

like a sea-horse. But the stream was strong, and I had
the pleasure of accompanying him, side by side, for
several hundred yards down the river. At length the
crowd of monsters whom his cries had brought, running
along the bank, dragged him out in the midst of peals of
laughter. He was more miry than ever, his face was all
duckweed and dismay ; and without basket, rod, or hat,
terrified, dripping, and half drowned, he looked the most
helpless and ridiculous of all possible monsters. I left
him, with a dash of my tail that ploughed up the water,
in scorn, and sailed away for my old loved haunts in the
Atlantic. From time to time I turned to gaze on the
scene of the monster's discomfiture, where I saw the crowd
carrying him away, and uttering roars of laughter, till all
was lost in distance and silence ; and I inhaled alone the
living breeze, and saw before me the sapphire stream bend-
ing over the majesty of ocean." — Blackwood's Magazine*

We shall give a passage or two from the celebrated
work of Monsieur Colnet, called L'Hermite de Belleville
(Paris, 1815):—

" L'AUT DE LA PECHE A LA LIGNE.
c La ligne est un instrument ou il y a une bete & chaque bout.'

ANCELOT, EHomme du Monde.

" La peche est-elle done un amusement aussi innocent
qu'on voudrait nous le persuader ? Ce ne sont pas, au
moins, les poissons qui le disent, et il n'y a pas une carpe
assez sotte pour le croire, pas un goujon assez stupide

INHUMANITY OF ANGLING. 205

pour convenir de Tinnocence (Tun amusement qui n'abou-
tit a rien moins qui a le frire. L'homme est done bien
cruel dans ses plaisirs ! La destruction semble etre son
passe-temps le plus agreable. La terre et 1'air ne suf-
fisent pas a sa fureur : il cherche des victimes jusque dans
le sein des eaux, et fait sans declaration une guerre aussi
lache qu'elle est injuste a de pauvres poissons qui ne lui
disputent rien, qui ne demandent qu'a vivre en paix avec
lui. Infortunes ! je les plains bien sincerement ! Mais
voila comme nous nous amusons ; voila nos innocentes
jouissances. En verite, on ne peut y songer que le coeur
ne saigne.

" II faut avouer cependant que ces poissons, si cruelle-
ment persecutes, ont une chair delicieuse, et que la cui-
sine aujourd'hui en tire un parti admirable. Aussi leur
cause devient plus difficile a defendre, et se presente sous
un jour moins favourable lorsque 1'avocat considere, et
surtout lorsqu'il goute les sauces exquises et savantes
auxquelles on les accommode. Le moyen d'ailleurs de
s'en passer? Sans eux, que ferez-vous du vendredi?
Dans les mets delicats qu'ils fournissent a nos tables, il
faudrait supprimer le careme, ou, chose etrange dans nos
mceurs, faire maigre par abstinence. Cela etant, n'imi-
tons pas ces politiques a courte vue qui invoquent sans
cesse des principes dont ils ne devient pas les conse-
quences, et qui sont ensuite fort etonnes lorsqu'on les
bat avec leur propres armes ; eloignons une sotte et ridi-

18

206 VARIOUS REMARKS.

cule compassion qui nous couterait cher. II est beau
sans doute d'etre sensible, mais il ne faut pas que la gour-
mandise en souffre; puisque, sans contredit, la cuisine
est aujourd'mii le premier des interets moraux, tout ce
qu'elle veut est bien, tout ce qu'elle commande est juste.
Les poissons ont tort, car on les mange; plus ils sont
delicats, plus ils sont coupables ; et il y aurait conscience
de leur faire grace, surtout depuis la decouverte du court-
bouillon,"

207

CHAPTER X.
On Artistic Eepresentations of Angling.

THE imagination of the artist, as well as that of the
author, has been called into requisition to illustrate pis-
catory amusements. We have already given some account
of the early representations of fishing, found among the
ancient remains of the Egyptian and Assyrian empires.
We shall now make a few brief remarks on the pictorial
displays of modern art in reference to the same subject.

There has been a caricature engraving found in the
ruins of Herculaneum, representing a little Cupid fishing
with the ringlets of her hair for lovers. This is justly
considered an interesting relic of ancient piscatory amuse-
ments. The lamprey appears in a picture found in the
ruins of this city, with great exactness. (Fig. 3, p. 402).

There is a fine representation of Yenus angling for Cu-
pids in the ruins of Pompeii. The outline of the figure is
magnificent, and distinctly portrays the piscatory art.

In the bas-reliefs of many of the sepulchral urns of the
first and second centuries of the Christian era found in
the catacombs of Home, we have very largely-drawn and
distinct representations of the religious martyrs thrown
into fish-ponds, and in the act of being devoured and mu-

208 ARTISTIC REPRESENTATIONS

tilated by fish, with the heads of ferocious looking men.
These are exceedingly curious specimens of art in con-
nection with the craft of angling.

In the early artistic labours of the Florentine engravers
we find several productions representing the practice of
angling in all its forms, as used in most countries at the
present day. There are some prints of this kind in the
British Museum of about the year 1400.

There is a very curious etching of Albert Durer, repre-
senting the devil in the act of fishing, with lines or chains
from his mouth, armed with hooks, drawing three persons,
emblematical of beauty, bravery, and learning, after him.
This print is in the British Museum.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there were
several series of copper-plate engravings executed in Italy,
representing rod fishing. These exhibit great taste. The
river scenery, in all that have fallen under our own eye,
is exquisite. By an engraving of Antony and Cleopatra,
fishing seems to have been at one time a great favourite
in Egypt ; as there are several forms of it, executed
in different styles of art. There are a few Italian pictures
and engravings of the last and present century, on piscatory
subjects, but they are seldom to be met with in the or-
dinary collections of print-shops.

The earliest caricatures of angling we have met with,
exclusive of the one lately found in Herculaneum, are
those by the Dutch artist Bruegel, published in 1556.
They are very curious. The specimens we have seen are

OF ANGLING. 209

exquisite, and represent the rod-fisher in the most ludicrous
attitudes.

The Dutch caricatures, and paintings generally of ang-
ling pursuits, are very finely executed, and very droll and
whimsical in their conception. The Hollanders were the
chief artists in caricaturing the amazing national folly,
the South Sea Bubble, and they sent over the fruits of
their genius for the ridiculous to England in vast quantities,
which were eagerly bought, and, indeed, widely circulated
over the continent generally. Fishing is one of the means
devised to represent the dupes ; and various illustrations
are given of men with rod and line, trying to catch any-
thing but real fish.

In another of these Dutch caricatures, we find the fol-
lowing lines attached to it : —

c< How famous is the man that could contrive
To serve this gluttonous town with fish alive 5
But now we're bubbl'd by his fishing pools,
And as the men catch fish, the fish catch fools."

There is a very curious and well-executed caricature,
of the date of 1660, representing Lent, under the figure of
a man riding on a lean horse, with a flag, made of a
fishing-net, with the tails of the fish sticking through the
meshes of it. There are likewise fish hanging on his coat
skirts, and he has a fishing rod with line in his hand. The
following lines are written underneath ; descriptive of a
contest between Lent and Shrovetide : —

18. §

210 ARTISTIC REPRESENTATIONS

" Here Lent and Shrovetyde claime their "proper right,
Are both resolved, and prepar'd to fight.
Lent, armed at all points, from the foot to the head,
A fishing-net hath for his banner spread.
An angling-rod he in his hand doth beare
To show that lakes, and ponds, and rivers cleare \
Are at his command j eels, carpe, pike, tench,
Or lobster, which the brinish sea doth drench,
Are by his hook or crooke, his powers will get,
And make all fish that comes into his net ;
A boyling kettle in his helmet fit,
(For Lent has small use for a roasting spit)
Thus mounted on a horse that ne'er eat hay,
Lent meets with Shrovetyde, and begins to say :
I now am come to mundifie and cleare,
The base abuses of this lost past yeare ;
Thou puff-paunch'd monster (Shrovetyde), thou art he,
That were ordain'd the latter end to be
Of forty-five weekes gluttony now past,
Which I in seven weekes come to cleanse at last ;
Your feasting I will turn to fasting dyet,
Your cookea shall have some leisure to be quiet ;
Your mosques, pomps, playes, and all your vain expence,
I'll change to sorrow and to penitence 5
I will reforme you, and I hither came
To keep flesh with you. Your proud flesh to tame ;
Let butchers cleave their cleavers and their knives,
Hang up their axes, let their men or wives
Make things for future uses if they please ;
I come to give them all a writ of ease ;
To calves, lambs, pigs, hens, capons, all I give
Froe leave to multiply, increase and live ;

OF ANGLING. 211

There shall no ven'son be (with swearing) slaine,
And fisherman shall search the ocean maine ;
And sirha (Shrovetyde) I do further meane,
Before I go, to make your fat chappes lean ;
For though, like rebells madd, you rove and stray,
And feast each Friday, and each Fasting day,
Though you regard no Ember weekes nor law,
Nor rule or order keeps you under awe,
Yet be assur'd that whosoe're wrongs Lent,
Shall not escape deserved punishment."

There is a valuable sketch of a boy angling from off a
bridge, by Ostarde. This is the only one, on this subject,
in the collection of his etchings in the British Museum.
It has brought a high price in England of late years.

Haller, who nourished about 1620, made some capital
sketches of angling scenes. What we have seen of them,
are quite gems in their way. One curious sketch, when
viewed in a certain position represents a man's face; and
when looked at in another, becomes a landscape, in which
an angler is displayed following his craft.

In Van der Cabal's productions, we find some fine
pieces on angling. Numbers 11 and 14 of Antoni Wa-
terloo are upon the same subject ; and in the sketches of
Kuisdael and Neyts, we have fishing with the rod portrayed
with great skill. Everdingen was a distinguished sketcher
of landscapes. He travelled all over Sweden, Denmark,
and Norway, and has left a vast number of pieces of scenerv
in each of these countries, wherein angling amusements
are depicted with great truthfulness and skill.

212 ARTISTIC REPRESENTATIONS

Van der Meer, Molyn, De Neve, Kysbrask, Smees,
Verschuring, and others, are all artists in whose works
there will be found something relative to the art of rod-
fishing. These artists' productions are in a large collection
in the British Museum. In volume seventeen, the sketches
Nos. 12, 20, 37, and 40, are fair specimens of the mode in
which angling topics are treated by this school of artists.

The engravings of Wouvermens are very numerous, and
very splendid. There are many of them in which angling
is represented. The most striking of these are " La Grotto
de 1'Abrenvoir," " The Passage of the Waters," and " The
Fisher's Bark."

Tenier's engravings of angling are very interesting ones.
In " Les Pecheurs Flamands," which embrace five prints,
there are some exquisite representations of the gentle craft.
In one of his productions, depicting his own house, he re-
presents a youthful angler with rod and line, fishing in
the neighbouring stream.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there
were several series of prints published at Paris, representing
angling, but in the spirit of political caricature and double
entendre allusions. Some of these prints were good por-
traits of the most noted ladies of the French Court, who
were exhibited in the act of fishing in some cool and well-
shaded stream, or romantic water-falls. There are a num-
ber of fine engravings, coloured, of the same class published
*n Paris at the present moment, 1854, which display the
most exquisite humour and artistic skill.

OF ANGLING. 213

The celebrated Thomas Bewick took a leading position,
at the commencement of the present century, in the repre-
sentations of angling scenes. Every one has been delighted
with his several woodcuts on the art. Take, for example,
that given at page 61, or 238, of the second volume of
his Birds. Look at the rocks rising from the margin of
the river, the wood fringing their sides and crowning the
summits; the trees bending down their branches, -as if to
kiss the pure waters still flowing coyly on ; you see the
rocky ledge over which the water is breaking and tumbling
(you may hear it murmur), and finally passing away into
that current surface so grateful to the eye of the skilful
fly-fisher. Then again look at the angler himself ; how
calm, and quiet, and contemplative he is; — one who has
no care or anxiety, or wish, but for a wet night, and a
south wind on the morrow. You may see at a glance
that he has not a grain of gall in his composition ; that
neither avarice nor ambition disturbs him ; that he has
never thought of raising himself in the world, but only
how he might raise a trout.

The late Mr. Isaac Nicholson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
a pupil of Bewick's, threw off many admirable sketches
of angling and river scenes. All Mr. Nicholson's labours
in this line of wood engraving, show what a keen and
truthful eye he had for all that appertained. to the piscatory
art, as displayed in the fine fishing streams of the North
of England.

There were several very witty caricatures of our own

214 ARTISTIC REPRESENTATIONS

George IV, when he used to frequent Virginia water with
the rod. There is one fine print, representing him sitting
fishing in a punt on the Thames, with all the leading
female characters who then figured at the English
Court.

The print by Hogarth, showing the fallacy in the rules
of perspective, by a representation of two anglers, is well
known. It is the only thing connected with the pisca-
tory art, which this celebrated man was known to have
executed.

The angling caricatures by George Cruickshank are
very admirable. In the opinion of some critics .they are
considered superior in point of life and truthfulness, to
those which Seymour executed.

The famous caricature in the Vernon Gallery, Marl-
borough House, painted by Lane (No. 53), represents an
enthusiastic rod fisher, under a severe fit of the gout, laid
up in his chamber, fishing out of a tub of water, for his
amusement. There is an engraving of this picture
possessing all the power and spirit and life of the original,
by the Society of the Art Union.

Mr. Stothard's sketches on angling subjects have a
high reputation among artists. Twenty of his drawings
on this subject were sold at Mr. Pickering's sale (March,
1854) for £84.

The caricatures by Seymour, representing all the curious
devices and positions of cockney anglers, are, in our
humble opinion, by far the choicest pieces of fine humour

OF ANGLING. 215

which have appeared in modern times. There are nearly
twenty of these cuts, all full of fun and ridicule. Mr.
Heath's sketches of angling topics are likewise interesting.
In some Mexican hieroglyphics, recently published at
Paris, there are some caricature representations of angling
pursuits ; but we have no idea of their antiquity.

216 MOKALS, MANNERS, ETC.

CHAPTER XI.

The Morals, Manners, and Professions of Life, illustrated from
the Art of Angling.

ONE of the striking characteristics of the angling
literature of all countries is, the applications which have
been made of it, to point out some of the ordinary moral
and prudential maxims of human life, and the various
occupations of men. We have already noticed how pro-
minently this feature was developed in Italy, when the
fishing dramas were fashionable in that country, during
the middle ages ; and we find the same strain of sentiment
in many of the books on angling in the North of Europe,
and even among the Scandinavian and Icelandic domestic
tales and stories. All these moral deductions and illus-
trations of particular pursuits of life, exhibited in angling
effusions, both in prose and verse, are grounded upon a
very general and obvious analogy. There is a marked
resemblance between the art of fishing itself, and the
divers modes which men in various stations and ranks of life
are obliged to follow to gain the objects they respectively
have in view. This strikes the fancy, and inspires the
mind to ring the changes on the various points of resem-
blance subsisting between the gentle art of fish taking,
and the arts of persuasion or coercion, which form such

ILLUSTRATED FROM ANGLING. 217

important items in human life. In the piscatory writings
of England, we have a great variety of productions of this
stamp ; a few of which taken at random from our own
collection, we shall here lay before the reader :—

" THE FLY AND TROUT.

As near yon stream, the other day,
Sooth' d by the murmuring current's play,

I thoughtless stroll'd along,
Behold, of largest growth a fly
Adown the stream came glist'ning by,

The smallest flies among.

In sportive air it spread the sail,
And o'er the rest the flying gale

It caught with seeming pride ;
Swiftly it skims the crystal waves,
Now in the purling eddy laves,

More smoothly now it glides.

What joy, it said, or seem'd to say,
Thus on the sparkling stream to play,

And quit the fields of air ;
How dull ! because on wings they rise,
Is yonder crowd of vulgar flies,

To float for ever there.

Still let timid, sordid crew,

The same old beaten track pursue j

Nor tempt one new delight :
I dare to live — to live I know,
And grasp at every joy below,

No fancied ills affright.

19

218 MORALS, MANNERS, ETC.

While thus he tuned his idle song,
Borne by the crystal stream along,

A trout descry' d the prize j
And upward darting, swift as thought,
The vain, the boasting insect caught,

The boasting insect dies .

I mark'd his fate — I smote my breast,
Deep be the lesson there impress' d,

Which thus my genius gave :
The wretch who quits the path assigned,
To taste forbidden joy, shall find

New ways to reach the grave."

" O world's deceit ! how are we thrall' d by thee,
That dost thy gall in sweetest pleasures hide !
When most we think in happiest state to be,
Than do we soonest into danger slide.
Behold the fish, that even now was free,
Unto the deadly hook, how he is ty'd ;
So vain delights allure us to the snare,
Wherein, unawares, we first entangl'd are." — Dr. Donne.

MORAL.

" Think when thou seest the bait,

Wherein is thy delight ;
That hidden hooks are hard at hand,

To pierce thee when thou bite." 1701.

ILLUSTRATED FROM ANGLING. 219

" A MOBAL.

There was (so says an ancient tale),

I' th1 middle of a pleasant dale,

A spacious, but a standing pool,

Immensely deep, and very foul :

The little brooks on every side

Which daily did into it glide,

Preserved its muddy waters sweet,

And for the noblest fishes meet.

Here did the lordly fishes long

In shoals innumerable throng.

Here were they wont to frisk and play,

And spend in merriment the day ;

Orew plump and fat with dainties fed,

Which were i' th' little channels bred ;

But (like mankind), the fishy race,

'Midst plenty, quite abandoned grace,

And rashly (proud to show their might)

Seiz'd on the little fishes' right :

Damm'd up their brooks, suppressed their springs,

And threatened more revengeful things-

But, oh! the dire effects of pride,

When will, not justice, is its guide ;

The frightened brooks the pool desert,

And no refreshing baits impart j

No more their limpid streams advance,

Nor purling circles thither dance ;

No fresh supplies approach its brink,

But, all suppressed with horror, shrink, !

And haste to shun th' offensive stink.

Meanwhile within, distracting fear,

And sickly drooping looks appear." 1726.

220 MORALS, MANNERS, ETC.

" NICOLAS PISCATOK.
A crochet crossed the Devil's head,

To idle a day by the brook :
He called on Saint Peter and civilly said —

" Friend fisherman, lend me thy crook :
Of the handle a famous rod can be made,

And I'll twist the top for a hook."

The Devil he fingered Walton through ;

And an hundred baits he tried :
He bobbed, and he bobbed, but 'twould not do —

The fish did not choose to be fried ;
And the little boys laughed, and the Devil looked blue,

And "orridly" cocknified."

The Devil he scratched his horn, and thought,

And he scratched his horn again :
* I have it' — says he — * my fish shall be caught

By the bait that doth catch me men : —
Oh better than all old Isaac hath taught,

For his one shall catch me ten'.' —

And what was the bait which the Devil chose ? —

The heart of a maiden fair —
A maiden with lip and cheek of rose,

And brightly flowing hair. —
Says the Devil — * Not one of the river beaux

Will a nibble at this forbear.'

Then he tucked up his tail again by the stream ;

And 'twas worth a shilling to see
How barbel and perch, and roach and bream

Swam by : ('twas not in the Lea — )
Says the Devil — * My lads, you little dream

What a treat I have got for ye. —

ILLUSTRATED FROM ANGLING. 221

Do you know I have called to drop you a line,

For a party down below j
With some very particular friends to dine —

A snug half dozen or so ? —
We are partners all in a sulphur mine —

Belzebub, Belial, and Co.' —

The Devil made sure, as well he might,

Some capital sport to see ;
For the fish that was shy at that bait to bite

A fish of no soul could be. —
He hooked on the heart — but oh, 'twas so light —

' Sure my shot is all cork ' — quoth he. —

But the Alderman, though he would fain blow out

On venison his dainty paunch,
Was too far north to hazard the gout

And a fry to boot for a haunch : —
So away from the bait he turned about,

Like an hermit abstemiously staunch.

The little boys laughed, and the Devil looked blue

When he saw the Alderman gone : —
He snapped in a passion his rod in two,

And he swore with a monstrous yawn,
He might just as well for the good he could do

Have been fishing in Phlegethon.

Then from his meditative mind

Rose a philosophic wight ;
A barbel, who had stemmed the flood

With fin of wonderous might : —
Each man of the Lea-bridge brotherhood

Would have fainted at his bite.

19 §

222 MORALS, MANNERS, ETC.

He made a speech in the unknown tongue,

Which we'll English at a venture : —
He knew with the Devil he could not he wrong,

For Nick was a co -inventor ;
And of the Regent- square hum had long

Been a punctual frequenter.

' Odd'e-fish'— quoth he — 'us fish you must think

The flattest of the flat,
To he swindled on to the river brink

For a nibble of venison-fat,
Or a maiden's heart too light to sink : —

Old Nick, you were young in that. —

4 With an empty purse you a fishing went j —

No marvel your sport was undone :
A cheque must be to your banker's sent,

If you wish to see any fun done ;
Then hie for the top of the Monument,

And bob in your fish-pond — LONDON ! ' —

TIM. TEOLLEE."

"THE UNIVERSAL ANGLER.

Brother Anglers, a song, you demand one and all j
As well as I'm able I'll answer the call :
What though unaccustom'd in verse to indite,
Yet the maggot , for once, sure the angler may lite I

Derry down, &c. &c.

The world are all anglers decreed by the fates,
Though courting and smiles are the tackle and baits !
Each mortal that lives has some favourite scheme,
That makes the heart dance like the float on the stream I

Derry down, &c. &c.

ILLUSTRATED FROM ANGLING. 223

Take the first man you meet, if he'd say what he's wishing,
And tell the whole truth — why, he's going a fishing I
His meaning's the same, and it can't be mistook,
For he'll come at his object by " lioolc or ~by crook ! "

Derry down, &c. &c.

The rich lover determin'd his mistress tofix-,
He starts not a, fly, but a gay coach and six I
Though, perchance, the fair maid with indignity fraught,
Cries, c a mighty fine baity but I'm not to be caught ! '

Derry down, &c. &c.

'At it early and late' some queer fish to outmatch,
The merchant's intent on a ' wonderful catch I '
See him bent o'er his desk till he groans or he grunts,
D'ye think that there's patience in nothing but punts ?

Derry down, &c. &c.

What are they who've unceasingly worshipp'd old Mammon ?
But anglers return' d disappointed of salmon ?
Or like those all agog for a large trout or roach,
Though doom'd to pull up but a minnow or loach ?

Derry down, &c. &c.

On the fam'd Stock Exchange, oh what angling is theirs !
What can beat, too, the large Anglo-mining affairs !
Wliile some I could name, might be readily shown,
As the greatest Bank -fishers that ever were known !

Derry down, &c. &c.

E'en that monarch's an angler to utmost perfection,
That lays the best hold of his people's affection ;
While each statesman's & fisher beyond the least doubt
That finds the best method of — tickling his trout ?

Derry down, &c. &c.

224 MORALS, MANNERS, ETC.

Ye learned professions ! now come to my aid,
My rod is both taper and light — who's afraid ?
My lines can't offend whilst I pledge in a brimmer.
To make no unsportsman-like use of a trimmer !

Berry down, &c. &c.

Most parsons are anglers for tithes we shall find,
If you pay but in wrath yet they take it as kind !
Yet still to return to right angles again,
I own that they're excellent ? fishers of men!'

Derry down, &c. &c.

The lawyer's an angler for roach, dace, and gudgeon !
They'll e'en hook themselves, while he sits without budging j
But please to note well ! — in the midst of his revel,
You may catch him, in turn, if you spin with a devil \

Derry down, &c. &c.

The doctor's an angler that oft shifts his quarters,
And destin'd, in truth, to frequent troubled waters ;
Yet he makes his own floats with a magical quill,
That brings up the little gold-fishes at will !

Derry down, &c. &c.

Thus each one finds some rare cunning bait of his own,
And the whole art can never be perfectly known ;
As each beau, in his way, to look killing will try,
.And each lass, if she likes, has a hook in her eye \

Derry down, &c. &c.

Now to wind up my reel, making nobody winch,
And just have a fling, but not whip to an inch.
Some truth into rhyme I've endeavour'd to throw ;
Leaving more of an archer to draw the long bow.

Derry down, &c. &c.

ILLUSTRATED FROM ANGLING. 225

Here's success to the tactics of each worthy brother,
May all the whole world pull up something or other :
Sweet-hearts to fair maidens ! and may the dolt swing,
That won't seem alive to the pleasures of Spring.

Derry down, &c. &c.

J. M."

" THE JOLLY FISHERMAN.
I am a jolly fisherman,

I catch what I can get,
Still going on my betters' plan,

All fish that comes to net.
Fish just like men, I've often caught,

Crabs, gudgeons, poor John, codfish,
A many time to market brought,

A dev'lish sight of odd fish.
Thus all are fishermen thro' life,

With wary pains and labour,
This baits with gold, and that a wife,

And all to catch his neighbour."

Chorus.
Then praise the jolly fisherman,

Who takes what he can get,
StiU going on his betters' plan,

All's fish that comes to net.

The pike, to catch the little fly,

Extends his greedy jaw,
For all the world, as you and I,

Have seen our man of law.
He who to laziness devotes,

His time is sure a numb fish,
And members who give silent votes,

May fairly be call'd dumb fish.

226 MORALS, MANNERS, ETC.

False friends to eels we may compare,

The roach resembles true ones,
Like gold fish we find old ones rare,

Plenty as herrings, new ones.

Like fish then mortals are a trade,

And trapt, and sold, and bought,
The old wife and the tender maid

Are both by tickling caught.
Indeed the fair are caught, 'tis said,

If you but throw the line in,
With maggots, flies, or something red,

Or any thing that's shining,
With small fish you must lie in wait

For those of high condition,
But 'tis alone a golden bait

Can catch a learned physician."

" SONG, SUNG BY HARLEY, AT DRURY-LANE THEATRE,
IN THE FISHERMAN'S HUT.

Written by the late J. Tobin, Esq.

Most fish that inhabit the sea,

With my net I can take now and then,
Yet how much more skilful is he

Who can thrive as a fisher of men ;
For tho' some are simple as dace,

And greedy as.gudgeons a few,
Yet I fancy that is not the case

With a lawyer, a maid, or a Jew.

ILLUSTRATED FROM ANGLING. 227

Your lawyer, some say, is a shark,

Yet he preys both by land and by water,
And perhaps 'twould be nearer the mark

If we dubb'd him a black alligator.
To catch him, there is but one rule,

A rogue can best hamper his brother,
And they tell me, like pikes in a pool,

Your lawyers will bite one another.

In cunning a Jew has no match,

He'll slip through your hands like an eel j
And maids are still harder to catch,

When of youth the first blushes they feel ;
But with patience an angler must wait,

Till older and older they grow,
When, like trouts, they'll all rise at his bait,

Tho' a feather's the very first throw."

" THE ANGLER MORALIZING OVER HIS FLY-BOOK.

When sitting by the fire last night,

Tho' I'm not over wise ;
My mind's eye just to take a sight,

Gaz'd on my book of flies.
When thinking, as I sipp'd my grog,

They seemed thus to say :
If you'll attend, I'll help to jog

Your memory some day.

So list, tho' in a ditty now
These hints are well to prize !

For there's wit and wisdom, you'll allow,
About a book of flies.

228 MORALS, MANNERS, ETC.

When wisdom shall your mind employ,
Fly from the large blue-bottle ;

Intemp'rance oft the senses cloy,
As grog goes down the throttle.

And. fly from quarrels if you can,
In life they lead to woes ;

If you in cups assault a man,

Be sure to fly from blows.

So list, &c.

When you're \nfeather you

From naughty dicky-birds ;
For if you hop about them — why

They'll cage you with their words.
And. fly off— if you see them home,

Beware what follows arter ;
Like boys— -fly ever back — be't known,
You'll wish to fly the garter.

So list, &c.

Fly from social pleasures when

They tend to lead astray ;
Fly from company of those

Who confidence betray.
Fly from danger, if you can ;

Fly from danger's way ;
Caution is the wisest plan

When inj'ry's in the way.

So list, «fec.

Fly far from where the dice-box holds

Its all-enticing spell ;
Fly, for surely life's blood grows cold,

Where gambling demons dwell.

ILLUSTRATED FROM ANGLING. 229

Fly far from quackery's attacks,

Which every day increase j
Fly far, because the ducks that quack

Live well by plucking geese.

So list, &c.

Be sure and fly not in the face

On those whom you depend ;
If your opinions they oppose,

They yet may you befriend.

And now, as I've no more to sing,

I'll even farewell say ;
My book may set ray flies on wing,

To swarm again some day :
I only wish my friends may think

These hints are well to prize ;
And just acknowledge if one hint,

Would make them still more wise.

So list, tho' in a ditty now,

These hints are well to prize,
For there's wit and wisdom, you'll allow,

About a book of flies.

Chelsea, 1840."

"ANGLING IN JUNE.

Oh, fly-fishing's pleasant in bright sunny June,
And murm' rings of waters, when hearts are in tune ;
While others are jocking and laughing sae free,
There's a pang in my heart — a tear in my e'e.
And e'en in the gloamin adown by the burn,
Sa dowie and wae aft I wander and mourn,
Amang the lang broom I sit greeting alane,
And sigh for my dear, and the days that are gane."

20

230

CHAPTER XII.

On Epitaphs on Anglers.

EPITAPH.

Here lyeth under this marbyle ston,
Eiche Alane, the fischying man ;
Whether he be safe or noght,
I reche never, for he ne rought.

Ancient MS. 1420.

ON A TOMBSTONE IN THE UNITED STATES.

Here lies good Pierre Froment,

Of Albany Town;
A fisherman well known,

Of skill and renown.
The salmon and the trout

He often did spear ;
Death struck with his barb,

In his fifty-second year. 1798.

EPITAPH ON A DUTCH FISHERMAN AND WIFE.

Here lies Will. Van Praat,

And Martha his wife ;
They liv'd in Q-oode-straat,

And never knew strife.
The reason is plain,

They liv'd in riches ;
They lov'd toil and gain,

And look'd to their fishes.

Amsterdam, 1762.

EPITAPHS ON ANGLERS. 231

EPITAPH.

Beneath in the dust,

The mouldy old crust

Of Ned Carpenter lately was laid ;

He was skilled with the fly

And with cunning sharp eye,

Knew every trout-pool in the glade.

Having fish'd long enough,

Death, in tones rather gruff,

Said, " I'll just put a hook in your gill,"

So here he doth rest,

And we hope he'll be blest,

When he hears the trump's sound loud and shrill. 1792.

LINES WKITTEN ON A PANE OF GLASS, IN AN INN,
IN SOMERSETSHIRE.

Here lies Tommy Montague,
Whose love for Angling daily grew j
He died regretted, while late out,
To make a capture of a trout."

EPITAPH.

Anglers promised, when I died,

That they would each spring-tide,

Daily morn and evening come,

And do the honours of my tomb :

Having promised — pay your debts,

Anglers here strew violets. 1801.

232 EPITAPHS ON ANGLERS.

EPITAPH.

Here lies poor Thompson all alone,

As dead and cold as any stone.

In wading in the river Nith,

He took a cold, which stopp'd his breath.

He fish'd the stream for ten years past,

Death caught him in his net at last.

Written on a Tombstone in Dumfries-shire, 1790.

EPITAPH.

Here lies within this tomb so still,
Old G-iles, pray sound his knell,
Who sat for years by purling rill,
And us'd the rod right well.

Somersetshire, 1810.
EPITAPH.

John Day, an angler of renown,

Moulders beneath this stone,
With worm he caught the speckl'd trout,

But to his home he's gone.
Worms for his bait, he'd many a feast,

We'll never see him more :
His body's gone, and in its turn,

Must feed worms by the score.

Devonshire, 1793.
EPITAPH.

Here he lies — an angler good,

Lately made of flesh and blood ;

Who has left his rod behind,

Tackle of an artful kind j

Give him honour — lightly tread

The sod now pressing on his head. 1784.

EPITAPHS ON ANGLERS. 233

EPITAPH.

Interred here doth lie a worthy wight,

Who for long time in fishing bore the bell ;

His name to show, was Thomas Heron, Knight,
In all piscatory arts he did excel. 1801.

EPITAPH.

Hicjacet Walter Gun,
Yery fond of angling fun ;
Sic transit gloria mundi.
He drank hard upon Friday,
That being a high day,
Then took to his bed, and died upon Sunday.

TRAGIC FATE OF BILLY DAWKINS.

In Leighton Buzzard lived a lad

Whose name was Billy Dawkins, O !
And Billy loved, and us'd the gad,

And courted Sally Nelson, O !

. On her his hopes, on her his fears,

He oft assured her, rested, O !
And he would shed such floods of tears,
Might melt a soul of whinstone, O !

But Sally had a cruel heart,

And heeded not this angler, O !
But still in spite of all this smart,

She laugh'd at hapless Billy, O !

With rod in hand, one vernal night,

He chanc'd to meet his charmer, O !
And, being now in desp'rate plight,

Inform'd her he was dying, O !

20 §

234 EPITAPHS ON ANGLERS.

To see a soul with love so wrung,

Might have reclaim' d a tiger, O !
But Sally only loll'd her tongue,

And pull'd a face at Billy, O !

His heart was broke. His pain beyond

That hour he bore no longer, O !
But jump'd into the deep horse pond,

And sank unto the bottom, O.

EPITAPH IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD IN CUMBERLAND.

The angler, Jack Dawson, lies
Under this stone ; with artful flies,
Trout and salmon caught in scores,
Whene'er he wander'd out of doors.

The dawning beam — prospect clear,
The clouded sky — lie darken' d here ;
Time another Sun will raise,
To guide to everlasting praise."

LINES ON THE TOMBSTONE OF WILLIAM ALLAN,
The well-known Gipsey Piper to the Duke of Northumberland.

A stalwart tinker wight was he,
And well could mend a pot or pan,
An' deftly wull could thraw a flee,
An' neatly weave the willow wan.

An' sweetly wild were Allan's strains,
An' mony a reel and jig he blew ;
Wi' merry lilts he charm' d the swains,
Wi' barbed spear the otter slew.

EPITAPHS ON ANGLERS. 235

Nae mair he'll scan wi' anxious eye
The sandy shores of winding Heed ;
Nae mair he'll tempt the finny fry,
The king o> tinkers, Allan's dead !

Nae mair at mell or merry night,
The cheering bagpipes Wull shall blow j
Nae man* the village throng delight,
Grim death has laid the minstrel low.

Now trouts exulting in the wave,
Triumphant see the otter glide ;
Their deadly foe lies in the grave,
Charlie and Phebe by his side."

LINES WRITTEN ON THE TOMB OF G. MERTON, ESQ.

By the Southampton Anglers' Club.
Come, pensive breeze, that steals along,
And sigh congenial to our song !
And thou, pure brook, that softly flows,
Stream sympathetic to our woes !
Night spreads around a kindred gloom,
And silence reigns o'er Merton's tomb.

Beneath, a zealous angler lies
(His lofty soul's above the skies),
Yet while on earth, kind, gen'rous soul,
Thou ever didst with want console ;
Thou chas'd the tear from widow's eye,
And sorrow fled when thou cam'st nigh.

A manly form, with noble mind,
In thy fair person were combin'd ;
But treach'rous death — fell, ruthless foe !
Soon laid thy high perfections low ;
Then fondly o'er thy dust we'll mourn,
With sorrow greet thy marble urn.

236 EPITAPHS ON ANGLERS.

THE FISHER'S GRAVE.

Long has wept the silver tide,

Stealing on its pebbly shore,
Since it bath'd his wherry's side,

Dashing to the feather' d oar.

'Twas at night, and homeward sped

The fisher to his hut afar ;
The cold moon shone above his head,

Brightly gleam' d each twinkling star.

He thought upon his cottage fire,
With rosy children circled round,

And sweet the dreams those thoughts inspire,
Dreams with peace and pleasure crown' d.

And as he row'd his boat along,

Cheerily his voice arose ;
The woods re-echo'd to his song,

And sigh'd at each returning close.

The boat glides on— conceal' d and dark,
Lurks beneath the sunken rock ;

Whirls around the fragile bark —
It shivers with the sunken shock !

The dying cry, the plunge was heard,
The peasants gather' d on the shore ;

And unavailing pray'rs preferr'd,
For him who can awake no more.

In vain beside her cottage fire,

His widow' d partner mourns his stay ;

His children ask their absent sire,
Alas ! he comes not with the day !

EPITAPHS ON ANGLERS. 237

They laid him in an humble grave,

The green sod blooms upon his breast,
Whilst calmly flows the silver wave,

And soothes his deep unbroken rest.

PI8HER WATTY.

FISHER WATTY'S dead and gane,

Death amang his cairns has gripp't him ;

Aft afore, whan he wad fain

Hae made the little chiel his ain,
Watty gied a flaff an' slipt him.

Noo at length the mools amang

The elright carle has laid him fairly ;
Quoth he, " Ye've play'd yer fliskies lang,
My faith ! but ye maun and yer sang,

An' pack away to saxton Charlie."

Waes me ! sin' canny Mat's awa',

I feel sae lanesome an' sae weary,
Tho' simmer winds abune me blaw,
Ilk burnie seems a rin o' snaw,

An' Tweed gangs daundrin, douf an' dreary.

Aft I clim' the basky brae,

Aft I seek the holy rowan,
Aft the gloamin o' the day
Ere the stars begin their sway

Whan the lav' rock woos the go wan.

Aft I wanner to the stane —

The warlock stane, whar late we parted ;
Waes me I sin' Fisher Watty's gane,
My soople wan' I wald alane,

Wi' feckless arm, ower pools deserted.

238 EPITAPHS ON ANGLERS.

Here the hazel boughs aboon,

That to their mirror beck sae gaily :

Puir Mat upon an April noon,

Ghid his lost fish its deadly stoun,
An' as it wambled, gaffd it bravely.

There in yonner stream sae blate,
Quoth he, " Whene'er the cocks a crawin,

Anither cast we'll aiblins get ; "

But death was tirlin at his yett,
An hour or twa afore the dawn.

In the kirk yaird bield sae green,
Auld Watty's laid by saxton Charlie ;

An' ay on ilka summer's e'en

I think upon the time that's been —

An' as I wanne*, miss him sairly. Sioddart.

AN ANGLER'S DEATH-SCENE.

And when he quits his humble heritage

It is with no wild strain — no violence ;

But, wafted by a comely angel's breath,

He glides from Time, and, on immortal sails,

Weareth the rich dawn of Eternity. Stoddart.

Not a zound in th' zick man's room ked1 1 hear,

Sips 2 ez pankin' an' faintly groanin',
An' th' sobs ev ez wive, an' her vast-vallin' tear,

An' ez childern disconsolate moanin'.

I stood by th' bed-zide, an' mournvully look'd
Ton th' face that I last zeed za chearly.

Now holler an' pale, that spoke plain ee'd be took'd
Vrem th' furns that did love 'en za dearly.

1 Could. 2 Except.

EPITAPHS ON ANGLERS. 239

An' away vlied my thoughts to th' days when we stroll'd

Wi' th' rod by our favourite stream —
An' th' years sim'd but yes' day — za zwift had they roll'd —

An' th' whole sim'd as thof 'twas a dream.

He murmur' d my name, as I took es coold hand,

An' ee whisper' d (while glaz'd wiz ez eye) —
" I da leyve thease bad worl' an' da mount ta th' land
That's all beauteous an' bright in th' sky."

No waight 'pon es conscience had he ta tarment 'en,

Ez life had bin simple an' lone;
An' kine furns an' true ee ed left ta lament en,

An carry an' voller en home.

Yar away vrem th' city ee'd pass'd all ez hours,

Conteynt, th' best fortin, injoyin' ;
In peyce an' in quiet, 'mongst fiel's an' the'r flowers,

Th' angle ez lishure imployin.'

Ee gid me ez rods — an' a blessing ee breath' d —

Ta kip ver ez sake an' ta mine en ;
But ez " chatties an' goods " in ez will ee'd aleyv'd

Ta th' widder remaynin behine en.

Resign' d an' prepar'd for a infinite life,

In a soft but deep prayer ee lied ;
Then kiss'd all ez children, an' hugg'd ez sad wife,

An' shut vast ez eyes — AN' EE DIED !

EEADEE, — "MAY THY LAST END BE LIKE nis."3
3 Pulman's Rustic Sketches j London, 1853.

240 ANGLING LITERATURE

CHAPTER XIII.

Angling Literature in Great Britain, from the year 1800 to the
present day.

ANGLING Literature has made surprising advances within
the period comprehended in this chapter. It has become
more varied, philosophical, imaginative, sentimental, and
humorous, than at any previous period of its history ; and
every year we not only witness new works on the subject
of angling, which are eagerly purchased, but we likewise
see an increasing amount of general knowledge and literary
talent thrown into their composition.

Vanier's book upon fish, originally written in Latin,
was made known to the English reader in 1809. We
shall give a few stanzas from it.

" OF FISH.

Lines translated from the Latin Poem called ' Yaniere,' ly the
Rev. John Duncomoe, of Corpus Christi College , Oxford.
Of fish I sing, and to the rural cares
Now add the labour of my younger years.
These lays, Lemoignon, your protection claim,
Now more unproved since first they gave me fame.
From hence to tend the doves and vines I taught,
And whate'er else my riper years have wrought.

*****
Chuse then a place to practise your deceit,
Where rock reduce the river to a strait,

IN GREAT BRITAIN. 241

So that the stream may flow, when thus confin'd
With force to turn a mill and corn to grind ;
Then near the floodgates is a narrow space ;
Hard of access, with reeds inclose a place :
The bending osiers will with ease allow
The stream retiring thro' the chinks to flow. —
*****

The trout loves rivers in obscure retreats,
Thrown into standing water, she forgets
Her former beauty, and neglects her love,
And all the flesh will then insipid prove.

*****
In the clear stream she casts her modest eyes,
And in a fillet her fair tresses lies.
While in this solitude she thus remains,
And dyes her beauteous face with various stains ;
It chanc'd the robber Lucius, thro' the shade,
With eager eyes perceiv'd the lovely maid ;
He saw and lov'd her riches, as her face,
For both her dress and form appear' d with equal grace.
The nymph now heard the rustling with affright ;
She saw a man, and trembled at the sight ;
Swiftly along the winding shore she fled,
And cry'd and vow'd, and call'd the gods to aid.
Truta despairing sought, with trembling speed,
A rock that overlopked the wat'ry mead ;
Hither she bent her course, the summit gain'd
And thought her virtue now might be maintain'd
Cheaply with loss of life : while here she stood,
And just prepared to leap into the flood,
Lucius approached, and while he held behind
Her flow'ry vest, that flutter'd in the wind,

21

242 ANGLING LITERATURE

Chang' d into fish an equal fate they bore,
And though transform'd in shape, yet, as before,
The pike of slaughter fond and fierce appears,
And still the trout retains her female fears !
Beauty and virgin modesty remains,
Diversify' d with crimson- tin ted stains ;
And, once the fairest nymph that trod the plain,
Swims fairest fish of all the finny train."

In the first quarter of the present century, angling be-
came a court amusement in England,which made it fashion-
able among the higher classes of society. George the
Fourth was passionately fond of it for many years before
his death. This circumstance exercised no little influence
over the literature of the art. We see from about 1810
to 1830, a vast increase of sketches, essays, and works
on the subject, all characterised by a higher and more
refined literary tone than heretofore ; and more suitably
adapted for bringing the nature of the sport under the
immediate notice of all classes of the people. Asa proof
of the interest attached to his Majesty's piscatory pre-
dilections at the time, we shall transcribe the account
given of the Royal fishing apparatus, taken from the Times
newspaper, May 1st, 1828. This is not only a curious
document considered in relation to Eoyalty itself, but it
likewise forms an epoch in the history of rod-fishing in
this country, as well as in foreign ones, so far as me-
chanical skill and appliances have subsequently been
brought to bear upon it.

" It is generally known that his Majesty has of late

IN GREAT BRITAIN. 243

years been very partial during hie leisure hours to the
amusement of fishing. The delightful aquatic space (the
Virginia Water) which covers nearly a thousand acres,
adjoining the Royal domain at Windsor, has each season
afforded his Majesty ample scope for his favourite recrea-
tion. A magnificent fishing apparatus was made some
time ago by command of his Majesty by Ustonson, of
Temple Bar, which, when presented was highly approved
of; and the King was pleased to express his admiration
of the great ingenuity and taste in the manufacture of it,
and appeared surprised that the whole could have been
made so uniquely perfect, in that branch of manufacture.
The apparatus has been recently sent from Windsor to be
re-fitted at Ustonson's for the season, and it is just now
finished, and with his Majesty's sanction it is to be sub-
mitted for a day or two to the inspection of a number of
persons of high rank, who have expressed an eager desire
to view so splendid an affair. For this purpose Mrs.
Ustonson has issued cards of admission to the number of
several hundreds, and Friday is the first day appointed
for the inspection. A description of the costly apparatus
may not be uninteresting : — The case is covered with the
best crimson morocco leather, and is three feet long, nine
inches broad, and three inches deep, the edges sloped
with double borders of gold ornaments, representing
alternately, salmon and basket. The outer border forms
a rich gold wreath of the rose, thistle, and shamrock,
intertwined by oak leaves and acorns ; the centre of the

244 ANGLING LITERATURE

lid presents a splendid impression of the Eoyal arms of
Great Britain and Ireland. The case is fastened with one
of Bramah's patent looks, handles, eyes, &c., all double
gilt. The interior of the case is lined throughout with
the finest Genoise sky-blue velvet, the inner part of the
lid tufted. The hooks (as they are termed), for angling
and fly-fishing, are the most chaste and beautiful that can
be imagined.

" The angling hook is covered with Genoise crimson
velvet ; the lock surmounted by a diadem of solid gold.
The top ornamented with the Eoyal arms of the United
Kingdom, richly worked and emblazoned ; and beneath
the shield, the rose, thistle, and shamrock. Within the
book are an infinite variety of artificial baits, of superior
imitation, together with angling rod and landing stick,
richly carved with Eoyal emblematical devices. The fly
book on the outside assimilates to the other, with this
difference, that the lid is surmounted with a double G. K.,
enclosed in a semicircle of a richly embroidered wreath,
representing the rose, shamrock, and thistle. This book
is full of flies, which, although artificial, almost equal the
natural insects in imitation. The tout ensenible of the
apparatus, is the most beautiful specimen of the art, that
perhaps has been ever manufactured in this or in any other
country."

The appearance of Blackwood's Magazine, about a quar-
ter of a century ago forms an important landmark in the
history of angling literature in Great Britain. It is im-

IN GREAT BRITAIN. 245

possible to enumerate all the many amusing and able
articles on the piscatory art, scattered up and down its
talented volumes. We shall here insert a description of
killing a salmon, given in one of the Nodes Ambrosiana,
as a specimen of the way such topics are handled in the
pages of this periodical.

" North. By the bye, James, who won the salmon
this season on the Tweed ?

Shepherd. Wha, think ye, could it be, you coof, but
masel' ? I beat them a' by twa stane wecht. Oh, Mr.
North, but it wou'd hae done your heart gude to hae
daunner'd alang the banks wis me on the 25th, and seen
the slauchter. At the third thraw the snoot o' a famous
fish sookit in ma flee — and for some seconds keepit stead-
fast in a sort o' eddy that gaed sullenly swirlin' at the tail
o' yon pool — I needna name't — for the river had risen
just to the proper pint, and was black as ink, accept when
noo and then the sun struggled out frae atween the clud-
chinks, and then the water was purple as heathermoss, in
the season o' blae-berries. But that verra instant the flee
began to bite him on the tongue, for by a jerk o' the wrist
I had slichtly gi'en him the butt — and sunbeam never
swifter shot frae Heaven, than shot that saumonbeam doon
intil and oot o' the pool below, and alang the sauch-shal-
lows or you come to Juniper Bank. Clap — clap — clap —
at the same instant played a couple oj cushats frae an aik
aboon my head, at the purr o' the pirn, that let oot, in a
twinkling, a hunner yards o' Mr. Phin's best, strang aneuch

to haud a bill or a rhinoceros.

21 §

246 ANGLING LITERATURE

North, Incomparable tackle !

Shep. Ear, far awa' doon the flood, see till him, sir —
see till him — loup — loup — loupin' intil the air, describin'
in the spray the rinnin' rainbows ! Scarcely cou'd I believe
at sic a distance, that he was the same fish. He seemed
a saumon divertin' himsell, without ony connexion in this
warld wi' the Shepherd. But we were linked thegither,
sir, by the inveesible gut o' destiny — and I chasteesed him
in his pastime wi' the rod o7 affliction. Windin' up —
windin' up, faster then ever ye grunded coffee — I keepit
closin' in upon him, till the whalebone was amaist per-
pendicular outowre him, as he stapped to take breath in
a deep plum. You see the savage had gotten sulky, and
you micht as weel hae rugged at a rock. Hoo I leuch !
Easin' the line ever so little, till it just muved slichtly like
gossamer in a breath o' wun' — I half persuaded him that
he had gotten aif ; but na, na, ma man, ye ken little about
the Kirby-bends, gin ye think the peacock's harl and the
tinsy hae slipped frae your jaws ! Snuvin' up the stream
he goes, hither and thither, but still keepiri' weel in the
middle — and noo strecht an' steddy as a bridegroom ridin'
to the kirk.

North. An original image.

Shep. Say rather application ! Maist majestic, sir, you'll
alloo, is that flicht o' a fish, when the line cuts the surface
without commotion, and you micht imagine that he was
sailin' unseen below in the style o' an eagle about to fauld
his wings on the cliff.

North. Tak tent, James. Be wary, or he will escape.

IN GREAT BRITAIN. 247

Shep. Never fear, sir. He'll no pit me aff my guard
by keepin' the croon o' the causey in that gate. I ken
what he's ettlin' at — and it's naething mair nor less nor
yon island. Thinks he to himsell, wi' his tail, * gin I get
abreist o' the broom, I'll roun' the rocks, doon the rapids,
and break the Shepherd.' And nae sooner thocht than

done — but bauld in my cork-jacket

North. That's a new appurtenance to your person,
James ; I thought you had always angled in bladders.

Shep. Sae I used — but last season they fell doon to
my heels, and had nearly droon'd me — sae I trust noo to
my body-guard.

North. I prefer the air life-preserver.
Shep. If it bursts you're gone. Bauld in my cork-jacket
I took till the soomin', haudin' the rod abune my head —
North. Like Caesar his Commentaries.
Shep. And gettin' footin' on the bit island — there's no
a shrub on't, you ken, aboon the waistband o' my breeks
— I was just in time to let him easy owre the Fa', and
Heaven save us ! he turned up, as he played wallop, a side
like a house ! He fand noo that he was in the hauns o' his
maister, and began to lose heart; for naethin' cows the
better part o' man, brute, Me, or fish, like a sense of in-
feriority. Sometimes in a large pairty it suddenly strikes

me dumb

North. But never in the Snuggery, James — never in

the Sanctum

Shep. Na — na — na — never i' the Snuggery, never i' the

248 ANGLING LITERATURE

Sanctum, my dear auld man ! For there we're a* brithers,
and keep bletherin' withouten ony sense o' propriety — I
ax pardon — oj inferiority — beiu' a' on a level, and that
lichtsome, like the parallel roads in Glenroy, when the
sunshine pours upon them frae the tap o' Benevis.
North. But we forget the fish.

Shep. No me. I'll remember him on my deathbed.
In body the same, he was entirely anither fish in sowle.
He had set his life on the hazard o} a die, and it had turned
up blanks. I began first to pity — and then to despise
him — for frae a fish o' his appearance, I expeckit that nae
act o' his life wou'd hae sae graced him as the closin' ane
— and I was pairtly wae and pairtly wrathfu' to see him
dee soft ! Yet, to do him justice, it's no impossible but
that he may hae druv his snoot again a stane, and got
dazed — and we a' ken by experience that there's naething
mair likely to cawm courage than a brainin' knock on the
head. His organ o' locality had gotten a clour, for he
lost a' judgment atween wat and dry, and came floatin',
belly upmost, in amang the bit snail-bucky-shells on the
san' aroond my feet, and lay there as still as if he had been
gutted on the kitchen dresser — an enormous fish.

North. A sumph.

Shep. No sic a sumph as he looked like-— and that you'll
think when you hear tell o' the lave o' the adventur.
Bein' rather out o' wun, I sits doon on a stane, and was
wipin' ma broos, wi' ma een fixed upon the prey, when a'
on a sudden, as if he had been galvaneezed, he stotted up

IN GREAT BRITAIN, 249

intil the left, and wi5 ae squash played plunge into the
pool, and awa' doon the eddies like a porpus. I thocht
I sou'd hae gane mad, Heaven forgie me — and I fear I
swore like a trooper. Loupin' wi' a spang frae the stane,
I missed ma feet, and gaed head owre heels intil the water
— while amang the rushin' o' the element I heard roars o'
lauchter, as if frae the kelpie himsell, but what,*afterwards
turned out to be guffaws frae your Men's Boyd and
Juniper Bank, wha had been wutnessin' the drama frae
commencement to catastrophe.

North, Ha ! ha ! ha ! James ! it must have been ex-
cessively droll.

Shep. Bisin' to the surface with guller, I shook ma
nieve at the ne'er-do-weels, and then doon the river after
the sumph o' a saumon, like a verra otter. Followin' noo
the sight and noo the scent, I was na lang in comin' up
wi' him — for he was as deed as Dawvid — and lyin' on
his back, I protest, just like a man restin' himsel' at
the soomin'. I had forgotten the gaff — so I fasten'd
ma teeth intil the shouther o' him — and like a Newfound-
Ian' savin' a duel frae droonin', I bare him to the shore,
while, to do Boyd and Jumper justice, the lift rang wi'
acclamations.

North. What may have been his calibre ?

Shep. On puttin' him intil the scales at nicht he just
turned three stane trone.

Tickler. (Stretching himself out to an incredible extent.)
Alas ! 'twas but a dream !

250 ANGLING LITERATURE

Shep. Was ye dreamin', sir, o} bein' hanged ?

Tickler, (vrithin the shed.) What have you been about
with yourself all day, ray dear James ?

Shep. No rnuckle. I left Altrive after breakfast —
about nine — and the Douglass Burn lookin' sae temp tin',
I tried it wij the black gnat, and sune creel'd some foure
or five dizzin — the maist o' them sma* — few exceedin' a
pund.

Tickler. Hem.

Shep. I fear, sir, you've gotten a sair thrott. Ane sune
tires o' trooting at ma time o' life, sae I then put on a
sawmon flee, and without any howp daunered doon to a
favourite cast on the Yarrow. Sometimes a body may
keep threshin' the water for a week without seem' a snout
— and sometimes a body hyeucks a fish at the very first
thraw, and sae it happened wi' me — though I can gie
mysel' nae credit for skill — for I was just watten my flee
near the edge, when a new-run fish, strong as a white
horse, rushed at, and then oot o' the water wi} a spang
higher than my head,

" My heart to my moooth gied a sten',"
and he had amaist rugged the rod oot my nieve ; but I
sune recovered my presence o' mind, and after indulgin'
his royal highness in a few plunges, I gied him the butt,
and for a quarter o' an hour keep't his nose to the grun-
stane. Its a sair pity to see a sawmon sulky, and I thocht
— and nae doubt sae did lie — that he had taen up his
lodgings at the bottom o' a pool for the nicht, — though

IN GREAT BRITAIN. 251

the sun had just reached his meridian. The plump o' a
stane half a hunder-wecht made him shift his quarters —
and a sudden thocht struck him that he would make the best
o' his way to the Tweed, and thendoon to the sea at Berwick.
But I bore sae hard on him wi' an aughteen feet rod, tha
by the time he had swam twa miles — and a' that time
though I aften saw his shadow, I seldom saw himsell —
he was sae sair blawn that he cam to the surface o' his ain
accord, as if to tak breath — and after that I had it a* my
ain way — for he was powerless as a sheaf o} corn carried
doon in a spate — and I launded him at the fuird, within
a few hunder yards o' Alt rive. Curious eneuch, wee
Jamie was sittin' by himsel' on the bank, switherin' about
wadin' across, and you may imagine the dear cretur's
Joy on seeing a twunty-pund fish — the heaviest ever killed
wi' the rod in Yarrow — floatin' in amang his feet.

Tickler. You left him at home ?

SJiep. Where else soud I hae left ?

Tickler. Hem.

SJiep. You really maun pit some flannen roun' that
thrott — for at this time o' the year, when baith man and
horse is saft, inflammation rapidly arrives at its height —
mortification without loss o' time ensues — and within the
four-and-twenty hours I've kent a younger chiel than you,
sir, streekit oot

Tickler. What?

Shep. A corps.

Tickler. Any more sport ?

252 ANGLING LITERATURE

Shep. Returnin' to the Loch, I thocht I wud try the
otter. Sae I launched him on his steady leaden keel —
twa yards lang — breadth o' beam three inches — and
mountin' a hunder and fifty hyeucks

Tickler. A first-rate man of war.

Shep. I've seen me in the season atween spring and
summer, secure ten dizen wi' the otter at a single launch.
But in October twa dizzen's no to be despised — the half
o9 them bein' about the size o' herrings, and the half o'
them aboot the size oj haddocks — and ane — but he's a
grey trout

Tickler. Salmo Ferox?

Shep. As big's a cod.

Tickler. Well, James.

Shep. I then thocht I woud take a look o' some night
lines I had set twa three days syne, and began puin' awa
at the langest — wi' some five score o' hyeucks, baited for
pike and eel, wi' troot and par-tail, frogs, chicken-heads,
hen-guts, some mice, some moles, and some water-rats —
for there's nae settin' bouns to the voracity o' thae sharks
and serpents — and it was like drawin' a net. At length
pike and eel began makin' their appearance — first a pike
• — then an eel — wi' the maist unerrin' regularity o' suc-
cession— just as if you had puttin' them on sae for a ploy !
" Is there never to be an end o' this ?" I cried to my sell;
and by the time that, walkin' backwards, I had reached
the road, that gangs roun' the bay wi' a bend — enclosin'
atween it and the water edge a bit bonny grass meadow

IN GREAT BRITAIN. 258

and twa or three trees — the same that your accomplished
freen5, George Moir, made sae tastefu' a sketch oj — there,
wull ye believe me — were lying five- and -twunty eels and
five-and-twunty pikes — in all saxty — till I cou'd hae
dream't that the meadow had been pairt oj the bay that
moment drained by some sort o' subterraneous suction —
and that a' the fishy life the water had contained was noo
wallopin' and wriglin' in the sudden shunshine o' unex-
pected day. I brak a branch aff an ash, and ran in
amang them wi* my rung, lounderin' awa richt and left,
and loupin' oot o' the way o' the pikes, some of which
showed fecht, arid offered to attack me on my ain element,
and I was obliged to wrestle wi' an eel thet speel'd up me
till his faulds were wounded round my legs, theeghs,
and body, in ever sae mony plies, and his snake head —
och ! the ugly auld serpent — thrust outowr my shouther
— and hissin' in my face — till I flang him a fair back-fa"
and then ruggin' him frae me — fauld by fauld — strechtened
him oot a* his length — and treddin' on his tail, sent his
wicket speerit to soom about on the fiery lake wi* his
father, the great dragon.

North (in the arbour). Ha! ha! ha! our inimitable
pastor has reached his grand climacteric I

Tickler (in the shed). And where, my dear James, are
they all ? Did you bring them along with you ?

Shep. I left the pikes to be fetched forrit by the Moffat
carrier.

Tickler. And the eels ?

22

254 ANGLING LITERATURE

Skep. The serpent I overthrew had swallowed up all
the rest.

Tickler. We must send a cart for him — dead stomachs do
not digest ; and by making a slit in his belly we shall
recover the rest — little the worse for wear — and letting
them loose in the long grass, have an eel-hunt."

In 1825, Professor Wilson published his Angler's Tent.
It is the narrative of one day's journey among the moun-
tains of Westmorland, Lancashire, and Cumberland. The
party being well provided with all the materiel of comfort,
visited some of the most wild and secluded scenes in
these several counties. The Professor says, " The images
and feelings of these few happy days, and, above all, of
that delightful evening, the author wished to preserve in
poetry. What he has written, while it serves to himself
and his friends as a record of past happiness, may, he
hopes, without impropriety be offered to the public, since,
if at all faithful to the public, it will have some interest
to those who delight in the wilder scenes of nature, and
who have studied with respect and love, the character of
their simple inhabitants."

The following lines are very interesting, inasmuch as
they show the author's feelings on the sacredness of the
Sabbath day, as well as on his favourite pursuit of angling.

" Yes ! dear to us that solitary trade,
'Mid vernal peace in peacefulness pursued,
Through rocky glen, wild moor, and hanging wood,
White-flowering meadow, and romantic glade !

IN GREAT BRITAIN. 255

The sweetest visions of our boyish years
Come to our spirits with a murmuring tone
Of running waters, — and one stream appears,
Remember' d all, tree, willow, bank, and stone ;
How glad were we, when after sunny showers
Its voice came to us issuing from the school I
How fled the vacant, solitary hours,
By dancing rivulet, or silent pool !
And still our souls retain in manhood's prime
The love of joys our childish years that blest ;
So now encircled by these hills sublime,
We Anglers, wandering with a tranquil breast,
Build in this happy vale a fairy bower of rest !

Within that bower are strewn in careless guise,
Idle one day, the angler's simple gear ;
Lines that, as fine as floating gossamer,
Dropt softly on the stream the silken flies ;
The limber rod that shook its trembling length,
Almost as airy as the line it threw,
Yet often bending in an arch of strength
When the tired salmon rose at last to view,
Now lightly leans across the rushy bed,
On which at night we dream of sports by day ;
And, empty now, beside it close is laid
The goodly pannier framed of osiers gray ;
And, maple bowl in which we 're wont to bring
The limpid water from the morning wave,
Or from some mossy and sequester' d spring
To which dark rocks a grateful coolness gave,
Such as might Hermit use in solitary cave !

256 ANGLING LITERATURE

And ne'er did Hermit, with a purer breast,

Amid the depths of sylvan silence pray,

Than prayed we friends on that mild quiet day,

By God and man beloved, the day of rest I

All passions in our souls were lull'd to sleep,

Ev'n by the power of Nature's holy bliss ;

While Innocence her watch in peace did keep

Over the spirit's thoughtful happiness 1

We view'd the green earth with a loving look,

Like us rejoicing in the gracious sky ;

A voice came to us from the running brook

That seem'd to breathe a grateful melody.

Then all things seem'd embued with life and sense,

And as from dreams with kindling smiles to wake,

Happy in beauty and in innocence ;

While, pleased our inward quiet to partake,

Lay hush'd, as in a trance, the scarcely-breathing lake

Yet think not, in this wild and fairy spot,
This mingled happiness of earth and heaven,
Which to our hearts this Sabbath-day was given,
Think not, that far-off friends were quite forgot.
Helm-crag arose before our half-closed eyes
With colours brighter than the brightening dove ;
Beneath that guardian mount a l cottage lies
Encircled by the halo breathed from Love !
And sweet that dwelling 2 rests upon the brow
(Beneath its sycamore) of Orest-hill,
As if it smiled on Windermere below,
Her green recesses and her islands still !

1 At that time the residence of Mr. Wordsworth's family.

2 The author's cottage on the banks of Windermere.

IN GREAT BRITAIN. 257

Thus, gently -blended many a human thought
With those that peace and solitude supplied,
Till in our hearts the moving kindness wrought
With gradual influence, like a flowing tide,
And for the lovely sound of human voice we sigh'd.

And hark ! a laugh, with voices blended, stole
Across the water, echoing from the shore I
And during pauses short, the beating oar
Brings the glad music closer to the souL
We leave our tent j and lo ! a lovely sight
Glides like a living creature through the air,
For air the water seems thus passing bright,
A living creature beautiful and fair ;
Nearer it glides ; and now the radiant glow
That on its radiant shadow seems to float,
Turns to a virgin band, a glorious shew,
Rowing with happy smiles a little boat.
Towards the tent their lingering course they steer,
And cheerful now upon the shore they stand,
In maiden bashfulness, yet free from fear,
And by our side, gay-moving hand in hand,
Into our Tent they go, a beauteous sister-band !

Scarce from our hearts had gone the sweet surprise,
Which this glad troop of rural maids awoke j
Scarce had a more familiar kindness broke
From the mild lustre of their smiling eyes,
Ere the Tent seem'd encircled by the sound
Of many voices ; in an instant stood
Men, women, children, all the circle round,
And with a friendly joy the strangers view'd.

?2 §

258 ANGLING LITERATURE

Strange was it to behold this gladsome crowd .
Our late so solitary dwelling fill j
And strange to hear their greetings mingling loud
Where all before was undisturb'd and still."

The professor describes, in after years, the killing of
trout in Awe Loch, in Scotland, in the following stirring
language : —

" Lie on your oars, for we know the water. The bottom
of this shallow bay — for 'tis nowhere ten feet, in places
sludgy, and in places firm almost as green- sward; for we
have waded it of yore many a time up to our chin— till we
had to take to our fins — there ! Mr. Yellowlees was in
right earnest, and we have him as fast as an otter. There
he goes, snoring and snuving along, as deep as he can —
steady, boys, steady — and seems disposed to pay a visit to
Babbit Island. There is a mystery in this we do not very
clearly comprehend — the uniformity of our friend's conduct
becomes puzzling — he is an unaccountable character.
He surely cannot be an eel ; yet, for a trout, he manifests
an unnatural love of mud on a fine day. Eow shoreward
— Proctor, do as we bid you — she draws but little water
— run her up bang on that green brae — then hand us the
crutch, for we must finish this affair on terra firma. Loch
Awe is certainly a beautiful piece of water. The islands
are disposed so picturesquely — we want no assistance but
the crutch — here we are, with elbow-room and on stable
footing ; and we shall wind up, retiring from the water's
edge as people do from a levee, with their faces towards the

IN GREAT BRITAIN. 259

king. Do you see them yellowing, you Tory? What
bellies ! Why, we knew by the dead weight that there
were three ; for they kept all pulling against one another ;
nor were we long in discovering the complicated movement
of triplets. Pounders each — same weight to an ounce —
same family — all bright as stars. Never could we endure
angling from a boat. What loss of time in getting the
whoppers wiled into the landing-net ! What loss of peace
of mind, in letting them off, when their snouts, like those
of Chinese pigs, were within a few yards of the gunwale ;
and when, with a last convulsive effort, they whaumled
themselves over, with their splashing tails, and disappeared
for ever. Now for five flies — wind on our back — no tree
within an acre — no shrub higher than the bracken — no,
reed, rush, or water-lily in all the bay. What hinders
that we should, what the Cockneys call, whip with a dozen ?
We have set the lake afeed ; epicure and glutton are alike
rushing to destruction ; trouts of the most abstemious
habits cannot withstand the temptation of such exquisite
evening fare ; and we are much mistaken if here be not an
old dotard — a lean and slippery pantaloon, who had long
given up attempting vainly to catch flies, and found it as
much as he could do to overtake the slower sort of worms.
Him we shall not return to his native element, to drag
out a pitiable existence, but leave him where he lies, to
die — he is dead already —

* For he is old and miserably poor.'
Two dozen in two hours, we call fair sport ; and we think

260 ANGLING LITERATURE

they will average not less, Proctor, than a pound. Las-
celles and North against any two in England ! We beseech
you, only look at yonder noses — thick as frogs — as pow
heads ! There, that was lightly dropped among them ;
each fatal feather seeming to melt on the water like a snow-
flake. We have done the deed, Proctor, we have done
the deed ; we feel that we have five. Observe how they
will come to light in succession ; a size larger and larger,
with a monster at the tail-fly. Even so. To explain the
reason why, would perplex a master of arts. Five seem
about fifty, when all dancing about together in an
irregular figure ; but they have sorely ravelled our gear.
It matters not ; for it must be wearing well on towards
eight o'clock, and we dine at sunset.

" Why keep we so far from shore ? Whirr, whirr, whirr !
SALMO FEROX, as sure as a gun ! The maddened monster
has already run out ten fathom of chain cable. His spring
is not so sinewy as a salmon's of the same size; but his
rush is more tremendous, and he dives like one of the
damned in Michael Angelo's ' Last Judgment.' All the
twelve barbs are gorged, and not, but with the loss of his
torn-out entrails, can he escape death. Give us an oar,
or he will break the rope — There, we follow him at equal
speed, sternmost ; but canny, canny ! for if the devil
doubles upon us, he may play mischief yet, by getting
under our keel. — That is noble ! There he sails, some
twenty fathom off, parallel to our pinnace, at the rate of
six knots, and bearing — for we are giving him the butt —

IN GREAT BRITAIN. 261

right down upon Laracha Ban, as if towards spawning
ground, in the genial month of August : but never again
shall he enjoy his love. See ! he turns up a side like a
house. Ay, that is, indeed, a most commodious landing-
place, and ere he is aware of water too shallow to hide his
back fin, will be whallopping upon the yellow sand."

The Salmonia of Sir Humphrey Davy, was published in
1828. It is an interesting work; and furnishes us with
many observations on the natural instincts of fish ; on the
natural influence of lights and shadows on our judgments
of external things ; and on a variety of matters and things,
which suggested themselves to his highly cultivated and
philosophical mind. The author tells us, the work was
written during several months of severe illness, and that it
constituted his amusement in many hours, which otherwise
would have been unoccupied and tedious. On this circum-
stance Sir Walter Scott, in reviewing ' Salmonia ' observes
that " the languid hours, in which lassitude succeeds to
pain, are more interesting and instructive than the exertion
of the talents *of others, whose minds and bodies are in
the fullest vigour."

The collection of songs, called the ' Fisher's Garland/
published at intervals at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, are worthy
of notice. They amount to about twenty -five in number ;
one being published, every year, from that of 1821, to 1845.
The number of copies of each song struck off the press
was only about twenty, and were chiefly confined to the
members of an Angling club, who were the original con-

262 ANGLING LITERATURE

coctors of the songs. These effusions have been, in 1852,
reprinted in a complete volume. Fourteen of these songs
were written by Mr. Eobert Roxby, of Newcastle, a keen
and zealous angler on the river Coquet. The following
lines, called in the collection " The Fisher's Call," is now
given by way of specimen.

" The thorn is in the bud,

The palm is in the bloom,
The primrose, in the shade,

Unfolds her dewy bosom •
Sweet Coquefs purling clear

And summer music making ;
The trout has left his lair,

Then waken, fishers, waken.

The lavrock's in the sky,

And on the heath the plover,
The bee upon the thyme,

The swallow skimming over ;
The farmer walks the field,

The seed he's casting steady,
The breeze is blowing west,

Be ready, fishers, ready.

The violet's in her prime,

And April is the weather ;
The partridge on the wing,

The muircock in the heather ;
The sun's upon the pool

His morning radiance wasting,
It's glittering like the gold,

Oh ! hasten, fishers, hasten.

IN GREAT BRITAIN. 263

The Felton lads are up,

They're looking to their tackle ;
The sawmon's in the stream,

And killing is the hackle.
If there's a feat to do,

'Tis Weldon boys should do it ;
Then up and rig your gads,

And to it, fishers, to it."

A few years ago, Mr. Stoddart, of Kelso, published, in
an octavo volume, among other poetical productions, about
fifty songs on angling. We shall insert one of them.

" Where torrents foam,

While others roam
Among the yielding heather ;
Some river meek,
We'll forth and seek,
And lay our lines together.

Some sylvan stream,
Where shade and gleam
Are blended with each other j
Below whose bank
The lilies rank
All humbler flowers ensmother.

Where cushats coo
And ring-doves woo
The shining channel over,
From leafy larch
Or birchen arch —
Their unmolested cover.

264 ANGLING LITERATURE

There daily met,
No dark regret

Shall cloud our noon of pleasure ;
We '11 carry rule
O'er stream and pool,
And none to claim a measure.

With tackless care
On chosen hair,
March fly and minnow tender,
We shall invite
The scaly wight
To eye them and surrender.

And when out-worn
We'll seek some thorn
With shadow old and ample —
The natural ground,
Moss laid around,
An angler's resting temple 1

' The North Country Angler,' by Stephen Oliver
(W. A. Chatto), appeared about 1838. It is an agreeable
and ably written volume. We shall give one of the songs
from the work.

" The wild bull his cover in Chillingham wood
Has left, and now browses the daisy-strewed plain ;
The May -fly and swallow are skimming the flood,
And sweet in the hedge blooms the hawthorn again ;
The young lambs are skipping on Cheviot's broad mountain.
The heather springs green upon Whitsunbank side ;
The streams are as clear as the limestone rock fountain,
And sweet is the palm blossom's scent where they glide.

IN GREAT BRITAIN. 265

O leave for a while the dull smoke of the city ;

Sons of gain, quit your desks, and your ledgers lay by,

Seek health in the fields while each bird sings its ditty,

And breathe the pure air underneath the broad sky.

Sons of pleasure, come view the sweet primroses springing,

Leave the scene where the light figurante whirls round ;

Come list to the lark in the blue ether singing,

Come, see how the deer in the green forest bound."

" The glad trout is roaming in every clear stream,

And the gilse and the salmon now drink the May flood 5
Then, anglers, be up with the sun's early beam,

Let your flies be in trim and your tackle be good.
In Till there's good store of fat trouts to be won —

Let your skill load your creels as you wander along, —
And at night, as you tell of the feats you have done,

Cheer your talk with a cup of good wine and a song."

A great number of first-rate books on angling have
issued from the press in England within the last twenty
years. Our limits will not allow us to indulge in ex-
tracts from them. We shall, however, briefly enumerate
a few of them.

Captain Medwin's ' Angler in Wales/ is an agreeable
work, and conveys much useful information relative to
the art of angling in that part of Britain. The same
thing may be said of Mr. O'Gorman's work on Fishing in
Ireland. Poulet Scrope's * Days and Nights ' of salmon
fishing is a recent production of high character ; so likewise
is Wilson's ' Rod and the Gun.' We have had several
volumes from the pen of Mr. Pulman on angling generally,

23

266 ANGLING LITERATURE

with a volume of angling songs, under the title of Eustic
Sketches ; ' all of which are able publications. The songs
are given in the Somersetshire dialect ; one of which we
insert by way of specimen.

" Come rummage up yer tackle, buoys —

Yer rods, and lines, and reels ;
Ver once agen th' seysn's come,
Sa ramble inth' fiel's.

Old blust'ring wenter's pass'd away,

Its ice, and vrost, and snow ;
And zmilin' spring her mantle gay,

O'er natur's face da drow.

On, on she come wi' stealthy paze,

Now ling'ring, now advancing ;
As maidens prove ther lover's faith,

Coqueting and entrancing.

Th' air wi' new-born insects teems,

An' ev'ry copse and grove
From veather'd drots a chorus pours

Ev warbled notes of love.

In meads an' banks the viewers de spring,

An' buds an' leaves da sproot ;
An' spoorting in th' crystal stream

's th' sparkid zided trout.

Then o'er es haunt, wi' gentle zweep,

Unvold yer treach'rous vlies ;
And wi' yer cunning, practised hand,

Allure and gain the prize.

IN GREAT BRITAIN. 267

O be not we, like foolish fish,

Wi' glittering things deceived ;
We snatch th' boit, and veel th' sting,

Too late to be relieved ?"

The two volumes on angling by Theophilus South
(Mr. Chitty), with many fine engravings, are pleasant read-
ing ; and the various writings of Ephemeris on angling,
are heJd in high esteem. The second edition, just recently
published, of Stod dart's Scottish Eivers, has added new
trophies to British angling literature. The establishment
of the Sporting Magazine so far back as 1792, forms a
distinctive era in the history of piscatory writing. In
almost every volume, there are several articles devoted to
the craft, either in prose or verse. This periodical was, for
several years, under the able management of Mr. Pitman,
of Warwick Square, who greatly improved it ; and since it
has come into the hands of Mr. Tuxford, its present Editor,
it has fully sustained its well-merited reputation.

268 FOREIGN ANGLING LITERATURE

CHAPTER IT.
On Foreign Angling Literature during the present Century.

WITHIN the last fifty years there have appeared several
lyrical productions at the Hague, and in other towns
in Holland, as well as in those situated in the higher
districts of Belgium, on the pleasures of angling. We
have songs on the Ehine, the Moselle, and the Sambre,
possessed of great merit. One of these songs * On the
Ehine,' we shall attempt to give the substance of in the
following lines.

The Ehine, the Ehine, thou noble stream,

Where warlike deeds are told ;
Where on thy banks, St. Goar once stood,

His mission to unfold.

Thy waters pure from mountain top

Come rushing down the vale ;
A pointed emblem of those feats

Wrapp'd in thy wond'rous tale.

The peaceful angler treads the banks

Where warriors oft hath led
Their armies ; and patriots bold

For freedom's cause hath bled.

With waves of clouds, rich and glowing,

Which leared upon thy breast,
Thou seem'st a spot to charm the sense,

Where anglers might be blest.

DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. 269

In summer heats I've sought thy shades,

Where cooling breezes blow ;
Thy glorious landscapes, fresh and fair,

Make anglers' bosoms glow.

Thy murmuring streams, pour'd o'er the rock,

Fall sweetly on the ear ;
And soothe the troubl'd mind to rest

When sadd'ning thoughts appear.

Flow on} proud Rhine, and may thy streams

For ever sacred flow,
For those who tread their margins gay

The "gentle fly" to throw.

It must be remembered that in Belgium angling is a
very ancient art or amusement. Fishing with rod formed
a part of the education of young burgesses of Flanders, at
a very early period of history.1

There are a few French treatises on angling in this
century, which are written in a descriptive and sentimental
strain. Since the peace of 1 8 1 4, the French officers of the
army have cultivated rod-fishing after the English fashion ;
particularly in Normandy andBrittany, the Upper Pyrenees,
at the towns of Bagnieres de Bigorre and Tarbes on the
river Adour, and other localities on the Switzerland side
of the kingdom. There have been several small works on
rod-fishing published at Paris, Lyons, Rouen, &c, within
the last forty years, containing descriptive pieces in verse
on the chief rivers of France. We shall venture to trans-

1 Montfaucon, Book iv, c. 9; Froissart, 4 — 131.

23 §

270 FOREIGN ANGLING LITERATURE

cribe one of these, minus the spirit and vivacity of the
original, to impart, if we can, some general idea as to the
manner that French angling tourists treat the subject.
The following lines appeared at Rouen in 1840, and refer
to the river Saone.

No fairer land can meet the eye,

Than skirts thy banks, O Saone !
Nor groves so sweet, and gardens green,

Nor lovelier skies e'er shone.

Thy gorgeous shades ne'er seem to tire

The angler's graphic eye ;
When streams gush out with sparkling foam,

And purple fires the sky.

Thy waters play and flowers adorn

Thy banks so fair and green ;
And birds of richest plumage rest

In wooded copse unseen.

The trout regales in purest streams,

And shows his golden hue j
And anglers ply their art with zest,

Nor need their labours rue.

Thy upper streams, when near thy source,

No richer scene can show ;
And e'en when traffic soils thy breast,

They still in grandeur flow.

No angling pleasures can be found

More racy and more sweet,
Than on thy hallow'd banks to roam

When prudence guides the feet.

DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. 271

The following piece is extracted from a Poem called
Le Pecheur, published in the 'Kevue des Deux Mondes/
for May 1853.

LE CHANT DES PECHEURS,
PAE A. BEISEUX.

Ah, quel bonheur d'aller en mer,
Par un ciel chaud, par un ciel clair,

La mer vaut la campagne.
Si le ciel bleu devient tout noir,
Dans nos cceurs brille encore 1'espoir,
Car Dieu nous accompagne.

Le bon Jesus marchait sur 1'eau,
Va sans peur, mon petit bateau.

Saint-Pierre, Andre, Jacques et Saint- Jean,
Fetes tous quatre une fois 1'an,
Etaient ce que nous sommes,
Et ces grands pecheurs de poissons
A leurs filets, leurs hamegons,
Prirent aussi le» hommes,
Le bon Jesus marchait sur 1'eau,
Ya sans peur, mon petit bateau.

Sur les flots ils 1'ont vu, leger
Yers eux tous venir sans danger,

Aussi leger qu'une ombre ;
Mais Pierre a le suivre eut grand peur,
II cria, " Sauvez moi, Seigneur,
Sauvez moi, car je sombre."

Le bon Jesus marchait sur 1'eau,
Ya sans peur, mon petit bateau.

272 FOREIGN ANGLING LITERATURE

Sur ton bateau, Pierre Simon,
Que Jesus fit un beau sermon

A la foule pieuse.
Pius dans tes filets tout casses,
Combien de poissons amasses,
Peche miraculeuse !

Le bon Jesus marchait Bur 1'eau,
Ya sans peur, mon petit bateau.

Dans la barque II dormait un jour —
Te souvient-il comme a 1'entour

S'elevait la tempe"te ?
Lui, reveille par ton effroi,
Dit a la vague, " Assaise-toi !"
Elle baissa la tete.

Le bon Jesus marchait sur 1'eau,
Va sans peur, mon petit bateau.

Aussi la barque du pecheur
Ou s'est assis notre Sauveur

A toujours vent arriere ;
Sans craindre la mer et le vent ;
Elle va toujours en avant
La bargue de Saint Pierre.

Le bon Jesus marchait sur 1'eau,
Ya sans peur, mon petit bateau.

O Jesus, des pecheurs 1'ami,
Avec nous venez aujourd'hui

Dans cette humble coquille ;
Aliens, prenez le gouvernail
Et benissez notre travail,
II nourrit la famille.

Jesus nous conduira sur 1'cau,
Ya sans peur, mon petit bateau.

DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. 273

TRANSLATION OF LE CHANT DES PECHEURS,

The Fisherman's Song.

Fairer than fields is the silver sea,
Better far is it there to be

Where the blue sky shineth clear.
Should storm-clouds rise
To darken the skies,

Yet Q-od will be with us there.

Fearless will our boatie be —
Jesus hath walked the troubled sea.

Peter and Andrew, John and James,
Holy-days now bear their names,

Fishermen, like ours their trade
Following their blessed Lord,
By the power of his Word

Fishers of men's souls were made.
Fearless will our boatie be —
Jesus hath walked the troubled sea.

In the night-watch on the tide
They behold their Master glide
Spirit-like upon the wave —
Peter his dear Lord to meet
Went — but soon with sinking feet
Cried out to Him to save.

Fearless will our boatie be —
Jesus hath walked the troubled sea.

274 FOREIGN ANGLING LITERATURE

Precious words did Jesus speak,
Peter, from thy boat — when meek

Listened hushed th' attentive throng,
By thy broken nets were caught
Fish unnumbered, Faith was taught
Where alone doth power belong.

Fearless will our boatie be —
Jesus hath walked the troubled sea.

Sleeping in thy boat he lay —
Mind'st thou of that stormy day

When loud winds whistled shrill.
Wakened by thy fears, the Lord
Spake — and instant at his word
The angry waves grew still.

Fearless will our boatie be —
Jesus hath walked the troubled sea.

So prosperous goes the boat along,
Where He is whom the seas obey

No contrary winds can harm.
Keck we not of wind or wave,
He saves us who did Peter save—-
We trust the Saviour's arm.

Fearless will our boatie be — *
Jesus hath walked the troubled sea.

Jesus — friend of fishermen —
Our cockle-shell awaits Thee then,

Deign, Lord, to enter in.
Take the helm — direct our way —
Bless our toil — give us each day
Food for our homes to win.

Captain of our boat shall be —
Jesus who walked the troubled sea.

DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. 275

Germany has contributed several good things, within
the present century, to piscatory literature, both in prose
and verse. We shall insert a few lines from Goethe's
Angler > of a playful and imaginary caste : —

" There was a gentle angler who angled in the sea,

With heart as cool as any heart, untaught of love, could be.

When suddenly the waters rushed — and swelled — and up there

sprung,

A humid maid of beauty's mould — and thus to him she sung.
' Why dost thou strive so artfully to lure my brood away,
And leave them then to die beneath the sun's all-scorching ray ?
Could' st thou but tell how happy are the fish that swim below,
Thou would' st with me, and taste of joy which earth can never

know.

Does not bright Sol, Diana too, more lovely far appear
When they have dipped in ocean's wave their golden silvery hair ?
And is there no attraction in this heavenly expanse of blue,
Nor in thy image mirrored in this everlasting dew ? '
The water rushed, the water swelled, and touched his naked feet,
And fancy whispered to his heart it was a love-pledge sweet.
She sung another syren lay, more witching than before,
Half-pulled — half-plunging — down he sank, and ne'er was heard

of more."

In the northern parts of Europe, Norway, Denmark,
Sweden, Poland, Hungary, &c. &c. angling has long
formed a portion of the recreations of the people. There
have several small works appeared of late years, in which
there is .more or less of imaginary and descriptive writing.
For the translation of the following Norwegian ballad, we

276 FOREIGN ANGLING LITERATURE

are indebted to a good Norse Scholar, resident in Edin-
burgh.

" Have you seen my shepherd lad,

Do you ken him weel ?
Have you seen him by the rill,

With his rod and creel ?
His golden locks — dimpled chin,

Make him dear to me ;
Gentle smiles play round his lips,
When he throws the flee.

Up the knowle there's rippling streams

That display his art ;
But the cottage down the glen

Steals away his heart.
Here the hours he whiles away

The rod is laid aside ;
He vows with love and fealty

He'll make me his bride."

In the United States, and British America, angling
literature has been cultivated with considerable ardour and
success, particularly within the last thirty years. We
find books on the subject in every section of this vast
continent, where the English language is known, and
English habits and amusements prevail, of more or less
merit and pretensions, both in poetry and prose. In
Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the New
England States generally, angling has been long a fashion-
able amusement among the literary and active minds of
the country ; and the whole of the continent, considerably

DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. 277

beyond the White Mountains, has been visited by these
zealous piscatory ramblers. Some have even penetrated
into the unfrequented tributaries of the Missouri.

" SAM SLICK ON ANGLING.

" So, sais I : " Jemmy, my boy, did you ever see a
salmon caught with a fly ?"

" No, sir," said he.

" Well, then, s'posen you and I go down to where the
Eskisoony stream jines the river, and I will raise one for
dinner in less than half no time. It's beautiful sport."

" I will jist run up and put on my bonnet, and walk
with you," said Sophy. " I have often heerd of fly-fishin',
but never saw it. This week is my holidays for it's Mary's
turn to be housekeeper."

"Any chance of a shot, my little man ?" sais T : " shall
I take my rifle ? "

" O yes, sir : the minks and otters, at this season, are
very busy fishin'."

" There's some chance for a fur-cap for you then this
winter, my boy," sais I. Having prepared all things
necessary, and loaded little Jemmy with the fishin'-rod
and landm'-net, I took Sophy under one arm, and slung
my rifle over the other, and in a few minutes was on the
best spot on the river for salmon. " Now, my little squire,
look here ! " sais I. "Do you see where the water shoals
above that deep still pool ? Well, that is the place to look
for the gentleman to invite to dinner. Choose a fly always

24

278 FOREIGN ANGLING LITERATURE

like the flies of the season and place, for he has an eye for
natur' as well as you ; and as you are agoin' to take him
in so, he shan't know his own food when he sees it. You
must make it look the very identical thing itself, or else he
turns up his nose at it, laughs in his gills, and sais to him-
self : * I ain't such a fool as you take me to be.' Then
throw your line clear across the stream ; float it gently
down this way, and then lift the head of the rod, and trail
it up considerable quick — tip, tip, tip, on the water. Ah !
that's a trout, arid a fine fellow too. That's the way to
play him to drown him. Now for the landin'-net. Ain't
he a whopper ? "

In a few minutes, a dozen and a half of splendid trout
were extended on the grass. " You see the trout take the
fly afore I have a chance to trail it up the stream. Now,
I'll not float it down, for that's their game, but cast it
slantin' across, and then skim it up, as a nateral fly skims
along. That's the ticket. I've struck a nobliferus salmon.
Now you'll see sport."

The fish took down the stream at a great rate, and I
in andarterhim, stayin' but not snubbin', restrainin' but
not check tn' him short ; till he took his last desperate leap
clear out of the water, and then headed up stream again.
But he grew weaker and weaker, and arter awhile, I at
last reached the old stand, brought him to shore nearly
beat out, and pop he went into the net.'

DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. 279

" ON SPEARING THE SALMON IN UPPER CANADA.

The lake's gold and purple have vanished from sight,

And the glimmer of twilight is merged into night.

The woods on the borders in blackness are massed,

And the waters in motionless ebony glassed :

The stars that first spangled the pearl of the west

Are lost in the bright blazing crowds of the rest ;

Light the torch ! launch the boat ! for to-night we are here,

The salmon, the quick-darting salmon, to spear.

Let us urge our light craft, by the push of the oar

Through the serpent-like stems of the lilies near shore :

We are free — turn the prow to yon crescent -shaped cove,

Made black by the down-hanging boughs of its grove.

The meek eddy-gurgle that whirls at our dip,

Sounds low as the wine-head which bursts on the lip.

On the lake, from the flame of our torch, we behold

A pyramid pictured in spangles of gold,

While the marble-like depths, on each side of the blaze,

Is full of gray sparkles, far in as we gaze.

From his bank-sheltered nook, the loon utters his cry,

And the night-hawk darts down with a rush from on high :

In gutturals hoarse, on his green, slimy log,

To his shrill piping tribe, croaks the patriarch frog ;

And the bleat and the bark from the banks mingle faint

With the anchorite whip-poor-will's mournful complaint.

We glide in the cove — let the torch be flared low,

And the spot where our victim is lurking 'twill show ;

Mid the twigs of this dead sunken tree-top he lies,

Let the spear be poised quick, or good-bye to our prize.

Down it darts — to the blow our best efforts are bent,

And a white bubbling streak shows its rapid descent j

We grasp it, as upward it shoots through the air ;

Three cheers for our luck ! our barbed victim is there !

280 FOREIGN ANGLING LITERATURE

Give way, boys ! give way, boys ! our prow points to shore,

Give way, boys ! give way, boys ! our labour is o'er.

As the black mass of forest our torch-light receives,

It breaks into groups of trunks, branches, and leaves :

On his perch in the hemlock, we've blinded with light

Yon gray-headed owl — see him flutter from sight !

And the orator frog, as we gild with the glow,

Stops his speech with a groan, and dives splashing below.

One long and strong pull — the prow grates on the sand,

Three cheers for our luck, boys ! as spring we to land."

The Eev. Dr. Beecher, of New York, has recently (1853)
written a series of delightful papers, in the New York
Independent, on his favourite amusement of angling.
We shall give a specimen or two of his style and the
spirit with which he enters into the sport.

" TROUTING.

Where shall we go ? Here is the More brook, the"upper
part running through bushy and wet meadows, but the
lower part flowing transparently over the gravel, through
the grass and pasture grounds near the edge of the village,
where it curves and winds and ties itself into bow knots.
It is a charming brook to catch trout, when you can catch
them, but they are mostly caught.

Well, there is the Candy brook. We will look at that.
A man might walk through the meadows and not suspect
its existence. The grass meets over the top of its upper
section and quite hides it ; and below, through that iron-
tinctured marsh land, it expands only a little, growing

DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. 281

open-hearted by degrees, across a narrow field ; and then
it runs for the thickets — and he that takes fish among
those alders will certainly earn them. Yet, for its length,
it is not a bad brook. The trout are not numerous, nor
large, nor especially fine ; but every one you catch renews
your surprise that you should catch any in such a ribbon
of a brook. Still farther north is another stream, some-
thing larger, and much better or worse, according to your
luck. It is easy of access, and quite unpretending. There
is a bit of a pond, some twenty feet in diameter, from
which it flows, and in that there are five or six half-pound
trout, who seem to have retired from active life and given
themselves to meditation in this liquid convent. They
were very tempting, but quite untemptable. Standing
afar off we selected an irresistible fly, and with long line
we sent it pat into the very place. It fell like a snow-
flake. No trout should have hesitated a moment. The
morsel was delicious. The nimblest of them should have
flashed through the water, broke the surface, and with a
graceful but decisive curve plunged downward, carrying
the insect with him. Then we should in our turn very
cheerfully lend him a hand, relieve him of his prey, and
admiring his beauty, but pitying his untimely fate, buried
him in the basket. But he wished no translation. We
cast our fly again and again; we drew it hither and
thither; we made it skip and wriggle ; we let it fall plash
like a surprised miller ; and our audience calmly beheld
our feats.

24 §

282 FOREIGN ANGLING LITERATURE

Next we tried ground bait, and sent our vermicular
hook down to their very sides. With judicious - gravity
they parted, and slowly sailed toward the root of an old
tree on the side of the pool. Again changing place, we
will make an ambassador of a grasshopper. Laying down
our rod, we prepare to catch the grasshopper ; that is in
itself no slight feat. The first step you take at least forty
bolt out, and tumble headlong into the grass ; some cling-
to the stems, some are creeping under the leaves, and not
one seems to be in reach. You step again; another flight
takes place, and you eye them with a fierce penetration,
as if you could catch some one with your eye. You can-
not though. You brush the grass with your foot again.
Another hundred snap out, and tumble about in every
direction. At length you see a very nice young fellow
climbing a steeple stem. You take good aim and grab
at him. You catch the spire, but he has jumped a safe
rod. Yonder is another, creeping among some delicate
ferns. With broad palm you clutch him and all the
neighbouring herbage too. Stealthily opening your little
finger, you see his leg ; the next finger reveals more of
him ; and opening the next you are just beginning to take
him out with the other hand, when out he bounds and
leaves you to renew your entomological pursuits. Twice
you snatch handfulls of grass, and cautiously open your
palm to find that you have only grass. It is quite vexatious.
There are thousands of them here and there, climbing and
wriggling on that blade, leaping off from that stalk,

DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. 283

twisting and kicking on that vertical spider's web, jumping
and bouncing about under your very nose, hitting you
in your face, creeping on your shoes, and yet not one
do you get. If any tender-hearted person ever wondered
how a humane man could bring himself to such
cruelty as to impale an insect, let him hunt for a grass-
hopper in a hot day among tall grass, and when at length
he secures one, the affixing him upon the hook will be
done without a single scruple, and as a mere matter of
penal justice, and with judicial solemnity.

Now then the trout are yonder. We swing our line
to the air, and give it a gentle cast toward the desired
spot, and a puff of south wind dexterously lodges it in
the branch of the tree. You plainly see it strike, and
whirl over and over, so that no gentle pull loosens it ;
you draw it north and south, east and west ; you give it
a jerk up and a pull down ; you give it a series of nimble
twitches ; you coax it in this way and solicit it in that
way in vain. Then you stop and look a moment, first at
the trout and then at your line. Was there anything so
vexatious ? Would it be wrong to get angry ? In fact you
feel very much like it. The very things you wanted to
catch, the grasshopper and the trout, you could not ; but
a tree, that you did not want, you have caught fast at the
first throw. You fear that the trout will be scared.
Y~ou cautiously draw nigh and peep down. Yes, there
they. are looking at you, and laughing as sure as ever

284 FOREIGN ANGLING LITERATURE

trout laughed. They understand the whole thing. With
a very decisive jerk you snap your line, regain the
remnant of it, and sit down to repair it, to put on another
hook, catch another grasshopper, and move on down stream
to catch a trout.

But let us begin. Standing in the middle of the
stream, your short rod in hand, let out twelve to twenty
feet of line, varying its length according to the nature of
the stream, and, as far as it can be done, keeping its
position and general conduct under anxious scrutiny.
Just here the water is mid-leg deep. Experimenting at
each forward reach for a firm foot-hold, slipping, stum-
bling over some uncouth stone, slipping on the moss of
another, reeling and staggering, you will have a fine
opportunity of testing the old philosophical dictum, that
you can think of but one thing at a time. You must
think of half-a-dozen ; of your feet, or you will be sprawl-
ing in the brook ; of your eyes and face, or the branches
will scratch them ; of your line, or it will tangle at every
step ; of your far-distant hook and dimly seen bait,
or you will lose the end of all your fishing. At first it
is a puzzling business. A little practice sets things all
right.

Do you see that reach of shallow water gathered to a
head by a cross-bar of sunken rocks ? The water splits in
going over upon a slab of rock below, and forms an eddy
to the right and one to the left. Let us try a grasshopper
there. Casting it in above, and guiding it by a motion

DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. 285

of your rod, over it goes, and whirls out of the myriad
bubbles into the edge of the eddy, when, quick as a wink,
the water breaks open, a tail flashes in the air and dis-
appears, but re-appears to the instant backward motion of
your hand, and the victim comes sklittering up the stream,
whirling over and over, till your hand grasps him, extri-
cates the hook, and slips him into the basket. Poor
fellow ! you want to be sorry for him, but every time you
try you are glad instead. Standing still, you bait again,
and try the other side of the stream, where the water,
wiping off the bubbles from its face, is taking toward
that deep spot under a side rock. There ! you've got
him ! Still tempting these two shores, you take five in all,
and then the tribes below grow cautious. Letting your
line run before you, you wade along, holding on by this
branch, fumbling with your feet along the jagged channel,
changing hands to a bough on the left side, leaning on
that rock, stepping over that stranded log. Eipping a
generous hole in your skirt as you leave it, you come
to the edge of the petty fall. You step down, thinking
only how to keep your balance, and not at all of the
probable depth of water, till you splash and plunge down
into a basin waist-deep. The first sensation of a man
up to his vest pockets in water, is peculiarly foolish,
and his first laugh rather faint ; and he is afterward a
little ashamed of the alacrity with which he scrambles for
the bank. A step or two brings him to a sand-bank and
to himself. But while you are in a scrape at one end of

286 FOREIGN ANGLING LITERATURE

your line, a trout has got into a worse one at the other.
A little flurried with surprise at both experiences, you
come near losing him in the injudicious haste with which
you overhaul him."

The late Hon. Daniel Webster was an enthusiastic rod-
fisher, and used to sally out from his country residence at
Marshfield Harsh : and wander for days together among
the streams of that part of the country. He wrote several
interesting papers on the gentle craft, in one of the
leading journals of the union » In the Journal of Com-
merce, New York, there have been, for several years>
articles now and then, on angling, of great literary merit.
We have been very much interested by the perusal,
through the hands of a friend, of a little volume, printed
at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1852, On Angliny. There
are some lines in it On the Salmon Fly> which struck our
fancy. They are penned in the true English fishing tone ;
and had we not found them where we did, we should have
thought them an emanation from the banks of the Tweed,
or Tay, or some of the famous salmon streams in the
North of Scotland, rather than in the heart of the
American Continent. Such productions as these distinctly
show how extensively the English practice of Ely-fishing,
and the literary tone and sentiment that accompany it, are
extending themselves over the world.

DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. 287

" THE SALMON FLY.

O ! let me dress a salmon fly

With feathers bright and gay,
Of every hue and brilliant dye

That tempt the scaley prey,
With azure pinion of the rhom,1

The tail of buzzard brown,
Mix'd with the gorgeous colours from

The prairie-pheasant's crown.

With harle of the peacock's tail

I'll wrap the polish' d steel ;
And carefully will blend the whole

With freakles from the teal.
The flossy silk so soft in feel

Hight down the breast will hang ;
While hackles, bright as cochineal,

Will form the under wing.

With purple wing of gay maccaw

The topmost wings are dress'd ;
And tinsel bright in many a row

Binds round the gaudy vest.
A plume from out his orange crest

The cockatoo must lend,
Which drooping o'er, in graceful rest,

Will cover barb and bend.

My fly is dress'd, I'll throw the luro

To tempt the salmon bold ;
With deadly barb, both sharp and sure,

All swath'd in shining gold.

in England.

288 FOREIGN ANGLING LITERATURE

The brightest rose bears 'neath its fold

The prickly thorn conceal' d ;
While sweets that mankind dearly hold

Oft rankest bitters yield.

Vice oft appears in pleasure's garb ;

Let giddy youth beware !
Beneath may lie the polish'd barb,

'Mong feathers bright and fair.
Deep hidden 'neath such tinsel glare

The wiles of life may lie ;
And brilliant follies yield a smart

As deadly as my fly."

"LINES ON ONE OF THE CHIEF TRIBUTARIES TO THE
GREAT ST. LAWRANCE.

Dark, rushing, foaming river,

I love thy solemn sound,
That makes thy shores quiver,

Spreading soft murmurs round.

Thy waters, like unbridled steed,

Fly onward in their course ;
Pouring thy waters down the mead

With unrelenting force.

I love thee, lovely river,

Thy cedar-girted shores,
The rocky isles that sever

The waves that round them pour.
But now I leave thy streams

To angle other rills j
Where a brighter eye beams,

To soothe my present ills.
Montreal, 1850."

DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. 289

We have the following observations from the pen of
Mr. Washington Irving, on the art of angling.

" There is certainly something in angling that tends to
produce a gentleness of spirit, and a pure sincerity of mind.
As the English are methodical even in their recreations, and
are the most scientific of sportsmen, it has been reduced
among them to a perfect rule and system. Indeed it is an
amusement peculiarly adapted to the mild and highly-culti-
vated scenery of England, where every roughness has been
softened away from the landscape. It is delightful to
saunter along these limpid streams, which meander like
veins of silver through the bosom of this beautiful country ;
leading us through a diversity of small scenery ; sometimes
winding through ornamented grounds ; sometimes running
along through rich pasturage, where the fresh green is
mingled with sweet-smelling flowers ; sometimes venturing
in sight of villages and hamlets; and then running
capriciously away into shady retirements. The sweetness
and serenity of nature, and the quiet watchfulness of the
sport, gradually bring on pleasant fits of musing ; which
are now and then greatly interrupted by the song of the
bird, the distant whistle of a pf^sant, or perhaps the vagary
of some fish leaping out of the still water, and skimming
transiently about its glassy surface."

290 FOREIGN ANGLING LITERATURE

PLY-FISHING IN AFRICA.

From a Cape Town Newspaper, 1852*
" Having a few days for sport, a friend and I set off with
our fly-rods, to try our luck at the c gentle craft ' in the
African streams. We passed through a most romantic
valley, but were awfully annoyed with the thick brushwood
which impeded our path. At length we got into open
ground, and neared the banks of a fine looking stream,
which we afterwards found was a tributary to the Ngotwani.
Having fitted up our rods, and put our lines in proper
fettle, we threw our line upon the waters, with something
like a superstitious fear or ominous apprehension, that we
had broken a spell in these solitary regions. Well ; we
had not thrown our line half-a-dozen times, till my partner
hooked a very large trout, weighing about three pounds.
He floundered about in fine style. It took full half-an-hour
to land him. Soon after I hooked and killed another, a
little less, but found him equally frisky and full of sport.
We had not fished an hour till we killed nearly three
dozen of prime fish. The flies we used were light-
coloured ones, with large wii%s. It was astonishing to us
how voraciously the fish seized the bait, and how firmly
they hooked themselves. After a fine day's ramble, we
found our way to a farmer's house, where we lodged all
night, and changed our sport the next day, by going out
in search of wilder sport with the gun and our dogs."

PURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. 291

ANGLING IN SURINAM.

The negroes of Surinam take their fish by implements
which may be denominated the spring hook and the spring
basket ; the first of which consists of a strong elastic rod
or pole stuck in the ground under water, and to the other
end of which are attached two lines of unequal lengths, the
shorter having fastened to it a small stick ten inches long,
and the other the same, but fixed lower; while at the
extremity of this line is hooked a small fish by the fins,
in such a manner, however, as to be able to swim to and
fro, and serve as a bait, for the larger species. Two long
sticks being next placed in the ground, so as to appear
above water, a third stick is laid across, forming them
into the appearance of a gallows ; above this gallows is
bent and fixed the elastic rod or pole, by means of the
double line and the sticks fixed thereon, as mentioned
above, but in such a manner that, at the least pull at the
bait, the apparatus gives way, the elastic rod instantly
assumes an upright position, and the fish that occasioned
the spring, by taking the bait, is immediately suspended
above water. The spring basket is upon a similar con-
struction. The basket is made of warimbo -reeds in the
form of a sugar-loaf, in the small end of which the elastic
rod is fastened, while at the other end is an open trap-
door, the whole being supported in a proper position by a
forked stick. No sooner has a large fish entered the basket
and taken the bait, than the elastic rod, as in the former

292 FOREIGN ANGLING LITERATURE.

instance, erects itself with a spring, the trap-door closes,
and the game is thus secured. In this mode of angling
there is, of course, no occasion to watch the line as in the
common method, when it frequently happens that the
philosophic fisher displays no ordinary degree of patience
in calmly waiting for hours, or perhaps for days, in expec-
tation of a very fine nibble at least, if not a fierce bite.
The spring hook, or spring basket, if set at night, may be
conveniently examined the next morning, and will seldom
be found empty, unless fish be very scarce.

A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL CATALOGUE

BOOKS ON ANGLING.

The present Catalogue is founded on those published
ty Sir Henry Ellis in the British Bibliographer in 1811,
the late Mr. Pickering's Bibliotheca Piscatoria in 1836,
and that in the Appendix to the New York edition of
Walton and Cotton's Angler in 1847. I have corrected
and greatly augmented them all, omitting many works
under the titles of British Sportsman, Field Sports, Country
G-entleman's Companion, &c. &c. which only treat incident-
ally on Angling. In their place I have given, for the first
time, a complete List of the English Writers on Ichthyology.
Those who wish to know what further has been written in
Magazines, Reviews, the Transactions of Learned Societies,
Sfc. fyc. may consult with advantage Poolers Index to Perio-
dical Literature, Neiv York, 1853, and Agassiz and Strick-
lantfs Bibliographia Zoologise et Geologise, 4 vols. 8vo,
London, Ray Society, 1848-54.

J. E. S.

A BIBLIOGEAPHICAL CATALOGUE

OF

BOOKS ON ANGLING.

ACCOMPLISH! LADY'S DELIGHT in preserving, physick, beautify-
ing, and cookery, with new and excellent experiments, and secrets
in the Art of Angling, being directions for the whole art (taken
entirely from Walton and Barker) . 1st Edit. 1675. 2d Edit.
1677. 3d Edit. 1684. 6th Edit. 1686. Vide New and Excellent
Experiments.

ADVENTURES (The) of a Salmon in the Eiver Dee. By a Friend
of the Family. Together with Notes for the Fly Fisher in
North Wales. (By William Ayrton.) 12mo, Lond. Pickering,
1853.

AKERMAN (John Yonge), Spring Tide, or the Angler and his
Friends ; a Series of Fishing Scenes, with Illustrations of the
West Country Dialects. 12mo, Lond. Bentley, 1850.

AKERMAN (J. Y.) Vide ANGLER'S ALMANAC.

ALBIN (Eleazar) HISTORY OF ESCULENT FISH. With North's
Essay on Fish and Fish Ponds. 18 coloured plates. 4to,
Lond. 1794. — A modern Edition, Lond. Goodwin, n. d.

ALEXANDER (W.) Journey to Beresford Hall, the Seat of
Charles Cotton, Esq. 4to, Lond. J. Russell Smith, 1841.

AMERICAN ANGLER'S GUIDE ; being a Compilation from the
Works of popular English Authors, from Walton to the pre-
sent time ; together with the Opinions and Practices of the
best American Anglers ; with Engravings on Wood. By an
American. 18mo, 1845. 2d Edit. J8mo, 1846.

AMERICAN ANGLER'S GUIDE. Post 8vo, New York, Wiley, 1849*

ANDERDON (J. L.) Vide KIVER DOTE.

296

ANGLEB AND SWIMMEE. 12mo, pp. 28, Lond. Hudson and Co.

(A Sixpenny Pamphlet.)
ANGLER IN IEELAND ; or, an Englishman's Eamble through

Connaught and Munster, during the Summer of 1833. 2 vols.

royal 12mo, Lond. 1834.
AN GLEE (The), containing a complete Description of all Fresh

Water Fish, and the best places for Angling near London.

Sq« 12mo, Lond. Groombridge, 1834.
ANGLEE'S (The), Eight Dialogues in verse. 12mo, Lond. 1758.

Ascribed to Dr. Scott, a Dissenting Minister, of Ipswich. It contains
ironical notes, in imitation of Dr. King's Art of Cookery.

ANGLEE'S ALMANAC for 1848 (Edited by J. Y. Akennan). A
broadside sheet.— Do. for 1849, 12mo, Lond. J. E. Smith.

ANGLEE'S ALMANAC AND POCKET BOOK for 1853, being a Hand-
Book and Guide to the Principal Rivers, Lakes and Fisheries
in Great Britain. By a Practical Angler. 12mo, Lond. Cox,
1853.— Do. for 1854.— Do. for 1855.

ANGLEE'S COMPANION ; a complete and superior Treatise on the
Art of Angling. 12mo, Lond. Bailey. (A Sixpenny Pamphlet.)

ANGLEE'S COMPANION, being a Complete Practical Guide ; to
which is added Nobbes's Art of Trolling. 12mo, Lond.
Hughes, n. d.

ANGLEE'S COMPLETE ASSISTANT, being an Epitome of the Whole
Art of Angling. -4th Edit. 4to, Lond. See Wilkinson.

ANGLEE'S DESIDEEATTJM, containing the best and fullest Direc-
tions for Dressing the Artificial Fly, -with some new and valua-
ble Inventions. By the Author (Capt. Clarke, E.M.), from a
practice of nearly half a century. 12mo, Edinburgh, 1839.

ANGLEE'S GUIDE to the Eivers of Yorkshire. 12ino, Knares-
borough, 1755.

ANGLEE'S GUIDE to the Eivers of the Pas-de-Calais. 8vo,
Boulogne, 1822.

ANGLER'S GUIDE to the Tweed and Whitadder. 12mo, Berwick,
1781.

ANGLEE'S GUIDE. 24mo, Lond. Dean and Munday, 1832.

ANGLEE'S HAND-BOOK. 32mo, Lond. Tyas, 1838. — Ee-issued,
by Eoutledge, Lond. — .

297

ANGLER'S MAGAZINE j or, Necessary and Delightful Storehouse ;
wherein everything proper to his Art is digested in such a
manner, as to assist his knowledge and practice upon bare
inspection ; being the completest Manual ever published upon
the subject ; largely treating on all things relating to Fish and
Fishing, whereby the Angler may acquire his experience with-
out the help of his master. By a Lover of that innocent and
healthful diversion. 12mo, Lond. 1754. (The initials GKS.
at the end of the Preface.)

AN GLEE'S MANUAL ; or Concise Lessons of Experience, which
the proficient in the delightful Recreation of Angling will not
despise, &c. with 12 plates, designed and etched by S. Howitt,
Oblong 8vo, Liverpool, 1808.

ANGLER'S POCKET BOOK, to which is prefixed Nobbes' Trea-
tise on the Art of Trolling. 8vo, Norwich, n. d. 2d Edit. 8vo,
Lond.— 3d Edit. 8vo, Lond. 1805. 12mo, Lond. 1814.

ANGLER'S PROGRESS, a Poem, Vide Boaz.

ANGLER'S SONG-BOOK j Compiled and Edited by Eobert Blakey,
12mo, Lond. Cox. 1855.

ANGLER'S SOUVENIR. By P. Fisher, Esq., assisted by several
eminent Piscatory Characters, with Illustrations by Beckwith
and Topham. 12mo, Lond. Tilt, 1835.

The Author was William Andrew Chatto, Author of the " History of "Wood
Engraving, with Illustrations by Jackson," " Facts and Speculations on the
History of Playing Cards/' &c. Vide NORTH COUNTRY ANGLER'S GAR-
LANDS ;—OLIVER (STEPHEN.)

ANGLER'S SURE G-UIDE ; or, Angling improved and methodi-
cally digested. By R[obert] H[owlett], Esq. forty years a
practitioner in this Art. 8vo, Lond. 1706.

ANGLICAN FRIAR, and the Fish which he took by Hook and by
Crook. A Comic Legend, by A Novice, A. F. & F. Dedicated
to all Lovers of Angling. 12mo, Lond. Darling, 1851.
More comical than piscatorial.

ANGLING, a Poem. 12mo, 2d Edit, printed for H. Slater,
1741.

The first edition was entitled " Innocent Epicure." Vide postea.

ANGLING ASSISTANT, or a new and complete Treatise on the Art
of Angling, &c. 12mo, pp. 32, Lond. W. Mason, N. D.

298

ANGLING EXCUESIONS of Gregory Greendrake, Esq. in the
counties of Wicklow,Meath, Westmeath, Longford, and Cavan,
with additions by Geoffrey Greydrake, Esq. dedicated to all
honest Brothers of the Angle. 12mo, 4th Edit. Dublin, 1832.

AEBUTHNOT'S Natural History of those Fishes &c. that are in-
digenous to, or occasionally frequent the Coasts of Buchan,
&c. 8vo, Aberdeen, 1815.

AET OF ANGLING-, in Eight Dialogues, in verse. 8vo, (Ascribed
to Dr. Scott, vide ANGLEE'S EIGHT DIALOGUES IN VEESE.)
Reprinted entire in Ruddiman's Collection of scarce, curious,
and valuable Pieces, both in verse and prose, 8vo, Edinb.
1773. Vide Lathy's Angler.

AET OF ANGLING. 18mo, Lond. Smeeton, n. d.

AET OF ANGLING, wherein are discovered many rare secrets very
necessary to be known by all that delight in that recreation-
4to, Lond. 1653. Vide Barker.

AET OF ANGLING^ a concise but comprehensive Treatise. 18mo,
Lewes, Baxter, 1809.

AET OF ANGLING. Not intended for Sale. 12mo, Lond. W. Davy
printer, 41, James Street, Grosvenor Square (1819).

AET OF ANGLING. 12mo, Lond. 1809.

AETIFICIAL Production of Fish. By Piscarius. 8vo, 3d Edit.
Lond. Reeve, 1854.

AEUNDO. Vide PEACTICAL FLY FISHING.

AYETON (William). Vide Adventures of a Salmon.

ANGLEE'S Museum. 12mo, Lond. Fielding, n.d.

BADDELEY. Vide LONDON ANGLEE'S BOOK.

BADHAM (C. D.) Prose Halieutics ; or, Ancient and Modern
Fish Tattle. Post 8vo, Lond. J. W. Parker, 1854.

BAINBELDGE (Geo. C. Esq.), FLY FISHEE'S GUIDE, illustrated
by coloured plates, representing upwards of forty of the most
useful Flies, accurately copied from Nature. 8vo, Liverpool,
1816. 2d Edit. 8vo, Lond. 1828. 3d Edit. 8vo, Lond.
1834. 4th Edit. 8vo, Lond. 1840.

BAELOW (Francis) SEVEEAL WAYS of Hunting, Hawking, and
Fishing, invented by himself, and etched by W. Hollar. Ob-
long 4to, 1671.

299

BARKER (Thomas of Bracemeale, Salop) Art of Angling,
wherein are discovered many rare Secrets very necessary to be
known by all that delight in that recreation. 12mo, Lond.
1651. Reprinted by Burn, Lond. 1820. Another Edition in
4to} Lond. 1653, without the Author's name subjoined to the
Countrymen's Eecreations. 4to, Lond. 1654. Large 8vo, 1817,
reprinted by Inchbold and Gawtress, Leeds.
BARKER'S DELIGHT ; or, the Art of Angling. By Thomas
Barker. Second Edition, with considerable Additions and
commendatory Verses prefixed. 12mo, Lond. 1657. Lond.
reprinted by Burn, 1820. Again by Hodgson and Co. — some
copies of which have the name of E. Bryant as publisher, 1826.
This book is inserted in the Young Sportsman's Miscellany.
12mo. 1826.

In an Epistle to the Reader, prefixed to the first edition, and in the Dedi-
cation of the second to Lord Montague, Barker speaks of himself as having
practised Angling for half a century ; adding, " if any noble or gentle Angler
have a mind to discourse of these ways and experiments, I live in
Henry Vllth's Gifts, the next doore to the Gatehouse in Westminster :
where I shall be ready to satisfie them and maintain my art; my name is
Barker "

The second edition, so called, 12mo, Lond. 1657, with Commendatory
Verses prefixed. This is the first edition that has the title of "Barker's
Delight." The second edition (likewise so called), Lond. 1659, is in fact the
same, with only a new title-page.

BATHURST (The Hon. and Rev. Charles) Notes on Nets, or the
Quincux practically considered, to which are added Miscellanea
Memoranda. 12mo, Lond. Van Yoorst, 1837.
BENNETT (John W.) Fishes of Ceylon. 4to, Lond. Bull, 1830.
New edit. Lond. Bohn, 1851.

BERNERS, BARNES, or BERNES (LADY JULIANA).
I. The Bokys of Haukyng and Huntyng ; and also of cootar-
muris. Compylyt at St. Albons. 1486. Folio, bl. 1.

The volume commences with signature ij ; the first leaf was, in all pro-
bility, a blank one.

On the recto of a ij, at top, we read : —

" In so much that gentill men and honest persones have greete delite in
haukyng, and desire to have the maner to take haukys ; and also how and
in waat wyse they shulde gyde theym ordynateli ; and to knaw the gentill
termys in cpmmunyng of theyr haukys ; and to understonde theyr sekeneses
and enfirmitees ; and also to knawe medicines for theym accordyng ; and
mony notabull termys that ben used in haukyng, both of their haukys and
of the fowles that their hawkys shall sley. Therefore thys book, fowlowyne
in a dew forme, shewys veri knawlege of auche plesure to gentill men ana
personys disposed to se itt."

300

This may be considered the title of the first treatise, 'The Book of
Hawking," which terminates on the reeto of d, iiij ; a, b, and c, having each
8 leaves (including aj blank). No two pages are alike as to the number of
lines ; and every page exhibits one or more breaks or spaces, with a larger
lower-case letter.

On the recto of d, iij, which is a short page of only 18 lines, we read : —
" Here endyth the proceis of hawkyng. And now foloys the naamys of all
maner of hawkys, or to whom they belong."

On the recto of d, iiij, the author concludes thus : —
" Ther is a muskyte ; and he is for a holiwater clerke : and theis be of an
oder maner kynde, for thay flie to Ouerre and fer Jutty and to Jutty ferry."

Explicit.

The reverse is blank. On the recto of the following signature, c,j, the
introductory sentence to the "Treatise upon Hunting," reads thus :

" Lyke wise as i', the booke of hawkyng aforesayd are writyn and noted
he termys of plesure belongyng to gentill men havyng delite therein. In
thessame maner thys booke folowyng shewith : to sych gentill personys the

maner of huntyng for all maner of beestys, wether thay be beestys of ve-
nery, or of chace, or kascall. And also it shewith all the termys conve-
nyent as well to the howndys as to the beestys a forsayd; and in certayn
tiier be many dyverse of thaym, as it is declared in the booke folowyng."

On the recto of /, iiij, we read the ensuing colophon : —

" Explicit Dam Julyans Barnes, in her boke of huntyng."

On the reverse, we have an account of " bestis of the chace, of the swete
fewte and stinking," followed by sundry other curious matter. The three
following pages contain an account of "The Compaynys of Beestys and
Fowlys." At the end of them, " Explicit." On the reverse of /, vij, " Here
folow the dew termys to speke of breekyng or dressyng of dyverse beestis
and fowlis, &c. And thessame is shewed of certayn fysshes." On /, viij,
recto, the shires, bishoprics, and provinces of England. The reverse is

, ,

blank. On the recto of the following leaf, a, i, we read the introduction to
st Treatise, upon " Coat-Armour," beginning thus : —

the third and last

" Here, in thys booke folowyug is determyned the lyndge of Coote
armuris : and how boudeage began first in aungell and after succeded in .
man kynde ; as it is shewede in processe boothe in the childer of Adam and
also of Noe, and how Noe devyded the worlde in iii parties to his iii
sonnys," &c, &c.

On the reverse of b, v, in sixes, "the Book of the Lynage of Coote armuris,"
ends thus : " Explicit prima pars." On the recto of the following leaf,
c, i, we read at top : —

"Here begynnyth the blasyng of armys." Every page, within the last
four of the work, is decorated with one, two, or three blazonings of coat
armour, to the number of 117.

On the reverse of /, ix, after the word "Explicit," is the following
colophon : —

" Here in thys boke afore are contenyt the bokys of haukyng and huntyng,
with other plesuris dyverse as in the boke apperis, and also of cootarnmns,
a nobull werke. And here now endyth the boke of blasyng of armys,
translatyt and compylyt togedyr at Seynt Albons, the yere from thincar-
nacion of owre Lorde Jim' Crist, M.CCCC.LXXXVI."

The following and concluding leaf contains, on the recto, the device of
the printer (a coat-armour, within a circle, surmounted by a cross, all in

301

white,) upon a red back-ground, surrounded by a two-line frame-work,
in red.

The top line reads thus :—

" Hie finis divsorx genosis valde utiliu ut ituetibz pateb."

The bottom is as follows : —

" Sanctus Albanus."

The reverse is blank.

A fine copy of this rare book, upon paper, is in the Collection of the Right
Hon. Thomas Grenville,in the Britishliluseum. Though wanting two leaves,
it is in the most extraordinary condition, being uncut throughout, and ap-
parently never having been bound, but only prepared for binding. Other
copies are in the Collections of Earl Spencer, the Earl of Pembroke, the
Marquis of Bute, the Bodleian Library, and in the Public Library at Cam-
bridge; the last three copies are however said to be imperfect.

II. This present boke shewyth the manere of hawkynge and
huntynge: and also of diuysynge of Cote armours ? It shewyth
also a good matere belongynge to horses : with other comen-
able treatyses. And ferdermore of the blaysynge of armys :
as here after it may appere. Small folio.

Juliana Berners, or Barnes, to whom the above Treatises were ascribed, is
supposed to have been sister to Richard, Lord Berners, of Essex, and prioress
of Sopwell, near St. Albans. She is said to have flourished about the year
1460, and is celebrated for her learning and accomplishments.

Besides being the first printed Treatise on the subject in the English lan-
guage, this work affords us rude representations of the different kinds of
tackle in use, and contains directions and remarks which have been copied
in some rocent Treatises on Angling.

On the first page a wood-cut of birds, and on the reverse a group of men
with a hawk, underneath the title above.

Sig. a, 5 leaves, the first blank, making 6. b, 6 leaves, c, 6 leaves
(Hawkynge ends on c, 5, and Huntynge commences on c, 6.)

d, 6 leaves, e, 6 leaves (Coat-armour commences on e, 6). f, 4 leaves,
g, 4 leaves (on reverse of g, 4, " Here begynnyth the treatise of fysshynge
wyth an Angle.") h, 6 leaves, i, 4 leaves, " Here begynnyth the blasynge
of arms." a, 6 leaves, b, 6 leaves, c, 6 leaves, d, 7 leaves.

Here in this boke afore ben shewed the treatyses perteynynge to hawk-
ynge and huutynge with others dyuers playsaunt materes belongynge unto
noblesse : and also a ryght noble treatise of Cot armours : as in this present
boke it may appere. And here we ende this laste treatyse whyche specy-
fyeth of blasynge of armys. Emprynted at Westmestre, by Wynkyn de
Worde, the yere of thyncarnacon of our lorde, M.CCCC.LXXXXVT.

On the last leaf (d, 8) is the device of Wynkyn de Worde, and on the re-
verse that of Caxton. This leaf is wanting in the copy in the British
Museum.

Copies upon Vellum are in the Collections of the Earl of Pembroke and
the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville : and upon paper in the British Museum ;
in the late Mr. Douce's Collection, now in the Bodleian ; and in the late
Mr. Dent's Library. Probablv the finest extant upon paper was Mr. Hanrott's,
which is now (1836) in the Collection of the Hon. George John Vernon.

This edition was reprinted in facsimile, by Mr. Haslewood, Lond. 1810;
and the Treatyse of Fysshing wyth an Angle, from this edition, wus re-
printed by W. Pickering, in crown 8vo, with Baskerville's Types. London,

26

302

The first edition was printed at St. Alban's, i486, containing the Treatises
of Hawking, Hunting, and Coat-Armour ; and reprinted by Markham, under
the title of "The Gentleman's Academic, or the Booke of St. Albans: con-
taining three most exact of excellent Bopkes : the first of Hawking, the
second of all the proper termes of Hunting, and the last of Armorie : all
compiled by Juliana Barnes, in the yere from the incarnation of Christ, 1486.
And now reduced into a better method by G. M. (Gervase Markham),
London : printed for Humfrey Lownes, and are to be sold at his shop in
Paules Church-Yard 1595." 4-to.

III. Here begynnyth a treatyse of fysshynge wyth an Angle.
Small 4to.

The title over the wood-cut of a man angling : on the reverse of D, iiii.
Here endeth the boke of Fysshynge wyth other dyuers maters. Imprynted
at London, by Wynkyn de Worde, dwellynge in Flete-strete, at the sygne of
the Sonne.

Small 4to, with wood-cuts. A to Diiij. This edition appears to have been
published as a distinct treatise : the concluding paragraph of the former
edition is omitted, stating, "And for by cause that this present treatyse
sholde not come to the hondys of eche ydle persoue, whyche wolde desire it
yf it were enprynted allone by itself, & put in a lytyll plaunflet ; therfore I
bane compylyd it in a greter volume of dyuerse bokys concernynge to
gentyll & noble men. To the entent that the forsayd ydle persones whyche
scholde haue but lytyll mesure in the sayd dysporte of fysshyng, sholde not
by this meane vtterly dystroye it." The only copy known, which was for-
merly Mr. Haworth's, is now in the collection of George Wilkinson, esq.

IV. The boke of hawkynge, and huntynge, and fysshynge. Small
4to.

Wood-cut group of Men with hawk, as in W. de Worde's edition 1496.

Reverse of C 7 II Thus endeth the boke of hawkynge.

C 8, Here begynneth the boke of huntynge ; on reverse of F 1, four lines
of t-ie ballad: — Therfore assaye them euerych one, &c.

H Thus endeth the treatyse of huntynge, and other thynges.

And here begynneth a treatyse of fysshynge wt an angle. Wood-cut
underneath.

F, 2, commences Salomon, &c., and ends on reverse of H, iv.

Here endeth the boke of hawkynge, huntynge, and fysshynge, and with
many other dyuers maters. Imprynted in Flete-street, at ye sygiie of ye
sonne, by Wykyn de Worde, with his colophon.

46 leaves.

The catchword throughout the volume is " Huntynge;" this edition reads
"Of Saynt Thomas tyde of Caunterbure."

A copy of this edition, now in the possession of Mr. George Daniel, of
Islington, is supposed to be unique.

T. The booke of hauking hunting and fysshing, with all the
properties and medecynes that are necessary to be kept.
Small 4to.

Over a rude engraving on wood, at the end of this portion there is no
colophon.

Here beginneth the booke of Hunting, whereunto is added the measures
of blowing. Over a wood-cut, no colophon.

Here beginneth a tretyse of Fysshyuge with an Angle. Over a wood-cut
of a man angling.

303

Imprynted at London, in Flete-streate, at the Sygne of the Rose Garlande,
by Wylliam Coplande.
B. L. 4to, p. 96.
Described in the " Bibliotheca Anglo-Poetica," p. 12.

VI. The booke of banking huntyng and fysshing, with all the
properties and medecynes that are necessary to be kepte. Small
4to.

Wood-cut of men and hawks, same as in Wynkyn de Worde, edition of
1496, folio.

Imprinted at London, in Saynt Martyns paryshe in ye vinetre, upon the
thre crane wharfe, by Wyllyam Coplande. A to E, iiii.

Here begynneth the booKe of Hunting, where unto is added the measures
of blowyng.

Rude cut with the Hares.

Imprint as above. Fi to Jiiii.

Here begynneth a tretyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle. Ki to Miiii.

Heere endeth the booke of Hauking, Hunting, and Fysshyng, with other
diuers matters.

Imprynt as above.

Formerly in Mr. Haslewood's Collection. A to M, each 4 leaves.

. vll. The booke of hauking huntyng and fysshing, wyth all the
properties and medecynes that are necessary to be kept. Small
4to.

[Most probably the same cut as in the preceding edition, but the title is
wmting.]

Imprynted at London in the Vyentre, uppon the Thre Craned Wharfe, by
Wyllyam Copland.

Here begynneth the booke of Hunting, where unto is added the measures
of blowyng.

Imprynted at London in the ventre, upon the Thre Crane Wharfe, by me,
William Copland.

Here begmneth a tretyse of Fysshynge, with an Angle. Wood-cut.

Imprinted at London in the Ventre, upon the Three Crane Wharfe, by
Wyllyam Copland. 4 to, A. to M., each 4 leaves. Now (1836) in the posses-
sion of Mr. Pickering.

VIII. The Booke of hauking huntyng and fysshing, with all the
properties and medecynes that are necessary to be kept. Small
4to.

Wood-cut of men and hawks.

Imprynted at London, in Paules Church e-yerde, by Robert Toye.

Here begynneth the booke of Hunting, where unto is added the measures
of blowyng.

Rude wood-cut.

Imprynted at London, in Flete-strete, at the signe of the Rose Garland,
by Wyllyam Copland, for Robert Toye.

Here beginneth a tretyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle.

Imprinted at London, in Flete-strete, at the sygne of the Rose Garland,
by Wyllyam Copland. In the Collection of Earl Spencer.

IX. The booke of hauking huntyng and fyssliing, with all the

304

properties and medecynes that are necessary to be kept. Small
4to.

Wood-cut of men and hawks, as in Wynkyn de Worde's edition.

Imprynted at London, in Paules Churche-yerde, by Abraham Vele.

Here begynneth the booke of Hunting, where unto is added the measure
of blowing

Rude wood-cut with the hares.

Imprynted at London, in Flete-strete, at the signe of the Rose Garland
by Wyllyam Copland, for Robert Toye.

Here beginneth a tretyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle.
Same cut as in Copland's edition.

Imprinted at London, in Paules Church-yarde, at the sygne of the Lambe,
by Abraham Vele. 4to, A. to M., in 4's, containing 48 leaves.

h, i, reads: "Of Saynt Benet, the xi July "

In Mr. Pickering's possession (1836), formerly Mr. Milner's. Another copy,
imperfect, is in the British Museum.

X. The Booke of haukyng, huntyng, and fysshyng, with al
the properties and medecynes that are necessary to be kept.
Small 4to.

Wood-cut of men and hawks, beneath the above title.

On the recto of A, ii. "The true fourme of keping of haukes, as hath '
ben used in tymes past. And fyrst to speake of haukes, from an egge tyll
they ben able to be taken."

On the reverse of E, iiii, " Thus endeth the boke of haukyng."

F, i. "Here beginneth the booke of Hunting, wherunto is added the
measures of blowyng." Above a rude wood-cut, representing a man hold-
ing a spear and blowing a horn, with dogs in chace.

Reverse of F, t, commences with " Lykewyse as in the booke of
Haukynge," &c.

J, ii. " Here nowe folowyng shall be shewed all shyres and the byshop-
ryches," &c.

/, in. " The measures of blowyng of a home."

J, iv. " The ende of the whole measures of blowyng."

Reverse of /, iv, is blank.

K, i. " Here beginneth a tretyse of Fysschynge wyth an Angle." Above
a wood-cut of a man angling.

Reverse of K, i, commences " Salomon in his parables," &c.

Reverse of M, iv. " Here endeth the booke of haukyng, huntyng, and
fyssbyng, with other dyvers matters."

" Imprynted at London, in Flete-streate, at the Sygne of the Rose
Garlande, by Wylliam Coplande : for Rychard Tottell."

B.L. 4to, 96 pages.

There is a copy of this edition in the Library of the Right Honourable
Thomas Grenville, at the British Museum. In a note at the end of the
volume, Mr. Grenville observes, " This edition is not known to Ames or
Herbert, nor has a second copy of it come to my knowledge, though there
is one nearly the same, printed for Toye and Coplande. There is no date of
the year of printing this book, but it appears, from Ames, that Coplande
was fined by the Company of Stationers, in 1561, for printing these three
Tracts. The present Edition of Tottell's differs in its colophon at least from
those pointed out by Herbert as printed by Coplande, and except the re-

305

versed cut before the treatise of Fishing, accords exactly with Toye's in its
contents."

There is probably another edition, by Coplande, yet undescribed — one iii
Lothbury, over against St. Margaret's Church.

XI. The boke of hawkynge huntynge and fysshinge, with all the
properties and medecynes that are necessary to be kept. Small
4to.

The treatise of Hawking ends on reverse of E, iiij, of Hunting on F, ij,
and of Fishing on reverse miiij.

Each treatise has a distinct colophon; the last is "Here endeth the boke *
of Hawkyng, Huntyng, and Fyshyng, with other dyuers matters. Im-
pryuted at London, in Paul's Chyrch-yerde, by me, Hery Tab. Finis."
A. to M., in 4's.

The only copy known is among Cryne's books in the Bodleian Library.

XII. The boke of hawkynge huntynge and fysshynge, with all the
propertyes and medecynes that are necessarye to be kepte.

Small 4to.

On title, wood-cut, group of 8 birds.

On the reverse of E, 4. Imprynted at London, in Forster-laen, by me
John Waley. Finis

On F, 1. Here begynneth the boke of huntyng; and ends on the re-
verge J, ii. Imprinted at London, in Forster Laen by John Waley.

On K, 1, commences. Here begynneth a treatyse of fysshynge with an
angle. Ends on M, 4.

Here endeth the boke of Haukyng, Huntyng, and fysshyng, with other
dyuers mathers. Imprynted at London, in Forster laen, by John Waley.

A. to M. in fours, except 1, which has two leaves only. In all 46 leaves,
h. i, reads : " Of saynte Thomas tyde of Canterbure."
N.B, This copy may or may not pe imperfect; in most copies the mea-
sures of blowing are printed on I, iii, and I,iv, with the imprint of the 2nd
part. But in this edition the imprint is at the end of the ballad, therefore
it appears perfect ; it is not mentioned on the title. In the possession of
Mr. Pickering (1836).

Xiii. The boke of haukyng huntynge and fysshyng, with all the
properties and medecynes that are necessary to be kepte.

Small 4to.

On title wood-cut of the Hawk within 6 scroll blocks and 2 flowers.

Imprynted at London in Flete strete by Wyllyam Powell.

Here begynneth the booke of huntyng. Where unto is added the mea-
sures of blowynge.

Wood-cut with two dogs and a stag, and an ornament composed of four
blocks, two on each side.

Imprynted at London in Flete strete, at the sygne of the George, next to
saynt Dunstones churche by Wyllyam Powell.

Here begynneth a tretyse of fysshynge with an angle.

Wood-cut as in Coplande, witn a border added in the outer and inner
margin.

Imprynted at London in Flete strte at the sygne of George next to saynt
Dunstones Church by Wyllyam Powell.

h. i, reads : " Of saynt Benet the xi. of July."

In Mr. Pickering's possession (1836), formerly "Tho. Baker. Col. Jo.
Socius eiectus." A. to M. in 4, containing 48 leaves.

26 §

306

BEST (Thomas) Concise Treatise on the Art of Angling. 12mo,
Lond. 1787. 2d Edit. 12rno, Lond. 1789. 3d Edit. 1794.
4th Edit. 1798. 5th Edit. 1802. 6th Edit. 1804. 7th Edit.
1807. 8th Edit. 1808. 9th Edit. 1810. 10th Edit. 1814.
(N.B. This Edition contains Nobbes' Treatise on Trolling).
11 Edit. 18mo, Lond. advertised 1827. Royal 18mo, Lond.
1832.

BIBLIOTHECA PISCATOEIA. A Catalogue of Books upon Angling.
(By William Pickering.) 12mo. Lond. 1836.

Forming the Appendix to the " Piscatorial Reminiscences." Some copies
were printed separately. It was formed upon Sir Henry Ellis's List, which
he contributed to the British Bibliographer, in 1811.

BINNELL (Robert) Description of the Eiver Thames, &c. with
the City of London Jurisdiction and conservancy thereof,
to which is added a brief description of those Fish, with their
seasons, spawning times, &c. that are caught in the Thames,
or sold in London. With some few observations on the nature,
element, cloathing, numbers, passage, weirs, and sensation,
&c. peculiar to Eish in general, &c. 8vo, Lond. 1758.

BLACKER (W.) AET of ANGLING, and Complete System of Fly
Making and Dying of Colours. Illustrated with plates, show-
ing the different Processes of the Fly before it is finished ;
giving the Angler a perfect knowledge of every thing requisite
to complete him in his noble Art. 12mo, Lond. for the Author,
54, Dean Street, Soho, 1842.

BLAGEAVE (J. Gent.) Epitome of the Art of Husbandry.
12mo, Lond. 1669, contains brief experimental Directions for
the right use of the Angle, Reprinted 8vo, Lond. 1670, 8vo,
Lond. 1685.

BLAKEY (Robert) ANGLEE'S Complete GTuide to the Rivers and
Lakes of England and Wales. 12mo, Lond. Whittaker, 1853.

BLAKE Y (Robert) AN GLEE'S Guide to the Rivers and Lochs of
Scotland. 12mo, Lond. Bogue, 1854.

BLAKEY (Robert) ANGLING ; or how to Angle, and where to go.
12mo, Lond. Routledge, 1854.

BLAKEY (Robert) Historical Sketches of the ANGLING LITEEA-
TTJEE of all Nations. 12ino, Lond. J. R. Smith, 1856.

307

BLAKEY (Robert). Tide ANGLER'S SONG BOOK; HINTS ON
ANGLING.

BLOME (R.) Q-entlemen's Recreations, treating on the Art of
Horsemanship, Hunting, Fowling, Fishing, and Agriculture.
Fol. Lond. 1686. Fol. Lond. 1710.

BOAZ (Herman), the Angler's Progress, written July 4th, 1789.
(A broadside.) 2d Edit. 8vo, Lond. J. H. Burn, 1820. 3d
Edit. Lond. 1820. 4th Edit. Newcastle, 1820.

Boccms (Gottlieb) Treatise on the Management of Fresh- Water
Fish, with a Yiew to making them a source of profit to Landed
Proprietors. 8vo, Lond. Yan Yoorst, 1841.

Boccms (G-ott.) Fish in Rivers and Streams, a Treatise on the
production and management of Fish in Fresh Waters by arti-
ficial spawning, breeding, and rearing, showing also the causes
of the Depletion of all Rivers and Streams. 8vo, Lond. Yan
Yoorst, 1848.

BOOK of the Salmon, in Two Parts. Part I, The Theory and Prin-
ciples of Fly Fishing for Salmon, with Lists of Salmon Flies
for every good River in the Empire. Part II, The Natural
History of the Salmon, all its known habits described, and the
best way of artificially breeding it explained. Usefully illus-
t^ated with numerous coloured engravings of Salmon Flies and
Salmon Fry. By EPHEMERA, Author of a " Hand Book of
Angling," assisted by ANDREW YOTJNG, of Invershin, Manager
of the Duke of Sutherland's Salmon Fisheries. 12mo, Lond.
Longman, 1850.

BOOSEY (Thomas). Vide PISCATORIAL REMINISCENCES.

BOWDITCH (Mrs. S.) Freshwater Fishes of Great Britain. 4to,
Lond. 1828.

BOWLKER (Richard), of Ludlow, The Art of Angling, im-
proved in all its parts, especially Fly-Fishing. 12mo, Worcester
(supposed date 1746). 2d Edit, by Charles Bowlker, of
Ludlow, his son ; 8vo, Birmingham, Baskerville, 1774.. 3d
Edit. 1780. 4th edit. 1786. 5th edit. 1792. A New Edition,
8vo, Ludlow, 1806. 8vo, Ludlow, 1814. 12mo, Ludlow,
1829. Many subsequent Editions have been printed at Ludlow
and Birmingham.

308

BBABAZON (Wallop) on the Deep Sea and Coast Fisheries of
Ireland. 8vo, Dublin, McGrlashan, 1848.

BEIEEE Treatise of Fishing ; with the Art of Angling. 4to,
Lond. 1614. (This forms a part of the Jewell for G-entrie, by
T. S. and is in fact but a reprint of the work ascribed to
Juliana Barnes.)

BEITISH Fish and Fisheries^ 18mo, Lond. Religious Tract Soc.
1849.

BEOOKES (Dr. E.), The Art of Angling, Bock and Sea Fishing*
with a Natural History of River, Pond, and Sea Fish. 8vo,
Lond. 1740. (The cuts chiefly borrowed from Willoughby,
and the Treatise of Angling from Chetham.) 2d Edit. 8vo,
Lond. 1743. Improved, with additions, and formed into a
Dictionary, 8vo, Lond. 1766. 2d Edit. 17—. 3d Edit. Lond.
1770. 4th Edit. 1774. 5th Edit, Lond. 1781. 6th Edit.
Lond. 1785. 7th Edit. Lond. 1789. A New Edit. Lond. 1793,
1799, 1801, 1807, and Dublin, 1811. Also other Editions.

BEOOKES (E.), The Natural History of Fishes and Serpents, to
which is added an Appendix, containing the whole Art of Float
and Fly Fishing. 8vo, Lond. 1763. 8vo, Lond. 1790.

BEOWN (J. J.) ANGLEE'S GUIDE, or complete Fisher's Manual.
12mo, New York, 1849.

BEOWNE (Moses) Piscatory Eclogues (first published without
his name) 1729. A Second Edition was published, with his
poems on various subjects, in 8vo, 1739. (The Author states
that these poems were written in his twenty-third year.)
A Third Edition, under the title of " Angling Sports" accom-
panied with Notes, was published in 8vo, 1773.

In 1750, Moses Browne edited Wai ton and Cotton's Angler, with a Preface
and Notes, and some valuable Additions ; this was republished in 1759 and
1772, in the former year drawing him into a controversy with Sir John
Hawkins, who happened to be then publishing an improved edition of the
same work.

BTJSHNAN (J. S.) Nature, Structure and Economical use of Fishes.

12mo, Edinb. Lizars, 1840.

Forming Yol. 35 of Jardine'a "Naturalist's Library."
CANTOE (Theodore E.) Notes respecting some Indian Fishes,

collected, figured, and described. 8vo, 1838.
CANTOE (Th. E.) Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. 8vo, Calcutta,

1850.

309

CARPENTER (William) ANGLER'S ASSISTANT, comprising prac-
tical Directions for Bottom Fishing, Trolling, &c. with ample
instructions for the preparation and use of Tacklo and Baits ;
a descriptive Account of the habits and haunts of Fish, and a
Geographical and Ichthyological Account of the Principal
Eivers and Streams in England. 12mo, London, Bogue, 1848.
Ee-issued by Eoutledge, Lond. 1852.

CARROLL (W.), The Anglers' Vade Mecum, containing an Ac-
count of the Water Flies, their seasons, the kind of weather
that brings them most on the water, the whole represented in
twelve coloured plates ; to which is added a description of the
different baits used in Angling, and where found. 8vo, Edin.
1818.

CHARFY (G-uiniad), The Fisherman; or, Art of Angling made

easy. 8vo, Lond. n. d. 2d Edit. 8vo.

A compilation by George Smeeton, printer, of St. Martin's Lane, who with
his wife were burnt to death.

CHARLETON (T. W. Eoyal Navy), The Art of Fishing, a poem,

8vo, North Shields, 1819.
CHATTO (W. A.). Vide ANGLER'S SOUYENIR ; NORTH COUNTRY

ANGLERS' G-ARLANDS; OLIVER (Stephen).
CHEEK (J.) YOUNG ANGLER'S INSTRUCTOR. 12mo, Lond. Cheek,

1837-8 and 1840.
CHETHAM (Jas. of Smedley) Angler's Vade Mecum ; or, a

compendious, yet full discourse of Angling. 8vo, Lond. 1681.

2d Edit. 8vo, London, 1689. 3d Edit. 8vo, Lond. 1700.
CHITTY (Edw.). Vide FLY FISHER'S TEXT BOOK.
CLARKE (Capt.). Vide ANGLER'S DESIDERATUM.
CLEKICUS. Vide EAMBLES and EECOLLECTIONS.
CLIFFORD (Charles), The Angler, A Didactic Poem. 12mo.

Lond. 1804.

The real Author was William Henry Ireland, best known as the Forger of
the Shakespeare Papers.
COKAYNE (Benjamin) Eules for Angling.

The original and unpublished manuscript in the autograph of the Author,
who was a relation and friend of Charles Cotton, occurs in the Rev. II. S.
Cotton's Sale Catalogue, 20th Dec. 1838, Lot. 61.

COLE (Ealph, Gent.) The Young Angler's Pocket Companion.
12mo, Lond. 1795 & 1813.

310

COLQTJHOTJN (John) The Moor and the Loch, with an Essay on
Loch Fishery. 8vo, Edinb. Blackwood, 1840 ; 2d Edit. Lond.
Murray, 1841. 3d Edit. Edinb. Blackwood, 1851.

COMPLEAT FISHER ; or, the true Art of Angling. By J. S. See
True Art of Angling.

COMPLETE FISHERMAN, or Universal Angler ; to which is added
the whole Art of Fly Fishing. 12mo, Lond. Fielding, N.D.

COQTJET-DALE Fishing Songs. Now first collected and edited by
a North Country Angler (Thomas Doubleday). 12mo, Edin-
burgh, Blackwood, 1852.

Comprising the Fishing Garlands and Songs written by Robert Roxby
(vide p. 322-3), with a history of their composition and biography of the
Author, edited by his coadjutor and friend, Thomas Doubleday.

CORNISH (J.) View of the Salmon and Channel Fisheries. 8vo,
Lond. Longman, 1824.

COTTON (Charles) Compleat Angler, being instructions how
to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a clear stream. Lond.
1676 ; forming a second part to Walton. Vide Walton.

Cox (Nicholas) Gentleman's Recreations, in four parts, viz.
Hunting, Hawking, Fowling, Fishing, and Agriculture. 8vo,
Lond. 1674. 2d Edit. 8vo, Lond. 1677. 3d Edit. 8vo, Lond.
1686. 4th Edit. 8vo, Lond. 1697. 5th Edit. 8vo, Lond. 1706.
6th Edit. 8vo, Lond. 1721.

DANIEL (Rev. W. B.) Rural Sports. 2 vols. 4to. Lond. 1801-2.
3 vols. royal 8vo, Lond. 1801. 3 vols. 4to, Lond. 1805.

3 vols. royal 8vo, 1812. Large Paper, in 4to.

The edition of 1805 has considerable additions, which have extended the
work to three volumes. It likewise contains additional plates, and proofs
of all the larger subjects, which were originally taken off for separate sale.

Supplement to the Eural Sports. Royal 8vo, 4to,

and imperial 4to, Lond. 1813.

The Supplement contains Anecdotes of Fish and Fishing, an Account of
the Rivers of Great Britain, &c.

DAVY (Sir Humphry, Bart.) Salmonia ; or Days of Fly-Fishing,
in a series of conversations, with some accounts of the habits
of Fishes belonging to the genus Salmo. 12mo, Lond. Murray,
1828. 2d Edit, with engraved views, 12mo, Lond. 1829.

311

3d Edit. 12mo, Lond. 1832. 4th Edit, with additions by his
brother, Dr. John Davy, 12mo, Lond. 1851.

%* A review of this work appeared in the Quarterly, attributed to Sir
Walter Scott, and another by Professor Wilson, in Blackwood's Magazine.

DAVY (John, M.D.) The Angler and his Friend, or Piscatory
Colloquies and Fishing Excursions. Fcp. 8vo, Lond. Long-
mans, 1855.
DAWSON (T.W.) The TROUT FISHER'S GUIDE. Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvania, 1850.
DEKAY (James E.) Fishes of New York. 2 vols. 4to, Albany,

1842.

D[ENNYS] (J[ohn], Esq.) Secrets of Angling, teaching the choicest
Tooles, Baytes, and Seasons for taking of any Fish in pond or
riuer, practised and familiarly opened in three bookes, by J. D.
Esquire. 12mo, Lond. 1613. 2d Edit, augmented with many
approved experiments, by W. Lauson. Lond. printed by Roger
Jackson, 1652.

This poetical treatise is entered in the Stationers' Books as by John
Dennys; but Walton ascribed it to John Davors, and by others without
sufficient authority it is ascribed to Davies and Donne. It contains com-
mendatory verses by Jo. Davies, and is dedicated by the Stationer R. J. to
Mr. John Harborne, of Tackley, in the county of Oxford.

In the title of this book is a wood-cut, representing two men, one with a
sphere at the end of his angle, and on a label,
Hold, hooke and line,
Then all is mine —
the other with a fish,

Well fayre the pleasure
That brings such treasure.

"Reprinted in the Censura Literaria, with a short advertisement, and an
index. 8vo, Lond. 1811. (A. hundred copies taken off separately.)

Beloe says, " Perhaps there does not exist in the circle of English Lite-
rature a rarer book than this. — Sir John Hawkins confessed he could never
get a sight of it." — Anecd. of Literature, vol. ii, p. 64.

DODD (James Solas) Essay towards a Natural History of the

Herring. 8vo, Lond. 1752.
DONOVAN (Edward) Natural History of British Fishes, 5 vols.

royal 8vo, Lond. 1802-8.
DOUBLEDAY (T.) Vide COQUET-DALE FISHING SONGS; and

NORTH COUNTRY ANGLER'S GARLANDS.
DUBRAUIUS'S NeweBookeofgood Husbandry, very pleasant and

of great profite both for Gentlemen and Yeomen, conteining

the order and manner of making fish pondes, with the breed-

312

ing, preseruing, and multiplyinge of the Carpe, Tench, Pike,
and Troute, and also divers kinds of other fresh Fish. Trans-
lated from the Latine. 4to, Lond. 1599.

ELLIS (Sir Henry) Catalogue of Books on Angling, with brief
notes of several of their authors. 8vo, Lond. 1811.

Printed in the British Bibliographer, and a few copies taken off separately.
Reprinted in the Supplement to Daniel's Rural Sports, without acknow-
ledgment.

EPHEMERA, i.e. Edward Fitzgibbon. Vide SHIPLEY, HAND BOOK
OF ANGLING. BOOK OP THE SALMON. WALTON & COTTON.

ESSAY on the Right of Angling in the River Thames and in all
other public Navigable Rivers. 8vo. Reading, Smart, n.d. A
letter to a proprietor of a Fishery in the River Thames, in
which an attempt is made to show in whom the Right of
Fishing in public streams now resides. 2d Edit. 8vo, Reading,
1787.

EVANS (W. of TJxbridge), The Art of Angling ; or, Complete
Fly Fisher. 8vo, TJxbridge, Lake, 1820. 8vo, London,
Richardson.

This book is taken almost verbatim from Bowlker's Treatise.

FISH ; how to choose and how to dress. By Piscator. 12mo,
Lond. 1843 — Second edit. 12mo, Lond. Longman, 1854.

FISHEEMAN'S Assistant in the Thames. 8vo, 1697.

See Thomas Martin, of Palgrave's Catalogue. 8vo. Lynn, 1772. Proba-
bly the same work as Laws and Ordinances of the City of London relating
to Fishing. 1697, post.

FISHERMAN (The) ; or, Complete Guide for Anglers. Lond.
1814.

FISHING, with Angle or Net. Public Right of, with Observations
by Piscator.

FISHING and HUNTING. 12mo, Lond. printed by Bailey.

FLETCHER (Rev. Phineas, Rector of Hilgay, Norfolk) Sice-
lides, a Piscatory, as it hath been acted in King's College. 4to,
Cambridge, 1631.

FLETCHER (Rev. P.) Purple Island, or the Isle of Man ; to-
gether with Piscatorie Eclogs and other Poeticall Miscellanies.
4to, Cambridge, 1633.

313

FLETCHER (Rev. P.) Piscatory Eclogues, with other Poetical
Miscellanies, with copious notes [by Lord Woodhouslee].
8vo, Edin. 1771.

FLY FISHER'S (the Illustrated) TEXT BOOK. By Theophilus
South, Gent, (i.e. Edward Chitty, Barrister-at-Law,). 8vo,
with 23 Engravings. Lorid. Ackermann, 1841 — with additional
Engravings, Lond. Bohn, 1845.

FLY FISHING- in Salt and Fresh Water, with 6 Plates, represent-
ing Artificial Flies. 8vo, Lond. Yan Yoorst, 1851.

FORD (D.D.) Piscatio ; or, Angling, a Poem, written originally
in Latin, and inscribed to Arch. Sheldon. 8vo, Oxon, 1733.
Again published with original poems by the same author, by
Greorge Sylvester, Gent. 8vo. Lond. 1733. The original is
in Musarum Anglicanarum Analecta, &c. 8vo, Oxon, 1692.
p. 129.

FRANCE (Richard) Northern Memoirs, calculated for the Meri-
dian of Scotland. To which is added the Contemplative and
Practical Angler, by way of diversion. With a narrative of
that experimented in England, and perfected in more remote
and solitary parts of Scotland. By way of Dialogue. Writ
in the year 1658, but not till now made publick. 8vo, Lond.
1694. New Edit, with Preface and Notes, by Sir Walter Scott.
8vo, Edin. 1821.

N.B. Only 250 copies of the last Edition printed. One of the most curious
parts of this work, p. 272, relates to the Burbolt, a fish rarely found, even
m the Trent, &c.

FRASER (Alexander) Natural History of the Salmon. 8vo, In-
verness, Carruthers, 1830.

FRASER (Robert) Review of the Domestic Fisheries of Great
Britain and Ireland. 4to, Edinb. 1818.

FRY (W. H.) A complete Treatise on Artificial Fish-Breeding,
including the Reports on the subject made to the French
Academy and the French Government, and particulars of the
Discovery as pursued in England. Translated and edited by
W. H. Fry. Post 8vo, New Fork, 1854.

GARDINER. A Booke of Angling or Fishing. Wherein is
showed, by conference with Scriptures, the agreement betweene

37

314

the Fisherman Fishes, and Fishing of both natures, Temporall
and Spirituall. By Samuel Gardiner, Doctor of Divinitie.

Matthew iv, 19. I will make you fishers of men.
18mo, London : Printed by Thomas Parfoot, 1606.

Dedicated to Sir Henrie Gaudie, Sir Miles Corbet, Sir Hamond Le Strange,
Sir Henry Spellman, Knights, my verie kind friends.

GENTLEMAN ANGLER, containing short plain instructions where-
by the most ignorant beginner may, in a little time, become a
perfect artist in Angling for Salmon, &c. &c. 8vo. Lond. 1726.
2d Edit. 8vo, 1736. 3d Edit. 8vo, Lond. Hitch, without
date. 8vo, Lond. 1753. 12mo, Lond. Kearsley, 1786.

This work was again printed as a novel publication, in 1786, viz. as above,
by a gentleman, who has made it his diversion upwards of fourteen years.
(In the first and other editions twenty-eight years' experience.)

GENTLEMAN FARMER, containing North's Discourse of Fish and

Fish Ponds. Lond. 1726.

GILBERT (William) Angler's Delight, containing the whole
art of neat and clean Angling ; wherein is taught the readiest
way to take all sorts of Fish, from the Pike to the Minnow,
together with their proper baits, haunts, and time of Fishing
for them, whether in mere, pond, or river. As also the
method of fishing in Hackney River, and the names of the best
stands there ; with the manner of making all sorts of good
tackle fit for any water whatsoever. Dedicated to Sir Richard
Fisher. 12mo, Lond. 1676, and in 1682.

In this book, the Angler's Delight, at p. 14, we read of Barbel frequenting
London Bridge; p. 31 the fresh title of the second part.

The method of fishing, &c. occurs, p. 38. ' " Then go to Mother Gilbert's,
at the ITower de Luce, at Clapton, near Hackney, and whilst you are drink-
ing a pot of ale, bid the maid make you two or three pennyworth of ground
bait, and some paste (which they do very neatly and well), p. 40. There is
an excellent stand in the second meddow, on the left hand, beyond the ferry,
under a willow tree ; in the midst of the meddow by the water side."

Mr. Haslewood, noticing the edition of 1676, says, " there was probably an
earlier edition, from the date of the licence for the press that being," with
allowance, October 20, 1674, Roger L'Estrange.

GIRARD (Charles) Contributions to the Natural History of the
Fresh Water Fishes of North America. 4to, New York,
1852.

Forming a portion of Vol. 3 of the Smithsonian Contributions to Know-
ledge.

GOSSE (P. H.) Natural History of Fishes. 12mo, Lond. Soc. for
Promoting Christian Knowledge. 1854.

315

GRAY (John Edward) Catalogue of the Fish in the British
Museum. Part I, Chondropterygia. 12mo, Lond. 1851.

GEAY (John Edward) List of British Fish in the Collection of
the British Museum, with Synonyma. 12mo, Lond. 1851.

GREEN (W.) Vide NORTH COUNTRY ANGLER'S GARLANDS.

GRIFFITH (Roger, Water Bailiff,) Essay to prove that the
Jurisdiction and Conservancy of the River Thames, &c. is
committed to the Lord Mayor and City of London, both in
point of Right and Usage. To which is added, a Description
of those Fish which are caught in the River Thames. 8vo,
Lond. 1746. See Binnell.

GRIFFITH (Edward) Animal Kingdom — Class Fishes. By P. B.
Lord, MJ). 8vo, Lond. Whittaker, 1834.

G[RYND ALL'S] (Wplliam]) Hawking, Hunting, Fouling, and
Fishing, with the true measures of Blowing, now newly
collected by W. G. Faukener. 4to, Lond. Islip, 1596. Haw-
king, Hunting and Fishing, with the true measures of Blowing.
Newly corrected and amended, 4to, Lond. Edw. Aide, 1596.

This book has a square wood-cut in the lower part of the title, of a man
with several hooks near him. A copy of the wood-cut occurs in one of
Bagford's volumes of scraps, in the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts, in
the British Museum. In Aide's edition ' Fowling ' is omitted.

JIAMILTON (Francis Buchanan) Account of the Fishes found in
the River Ganges. 4to, with vol. of plates. Edinb. 1822.

HAMILTON (Robert) British Fishes. 2 vols. 12mo, Edinburgh,
Lizars, 1852.

Forming Vols. 36 and 37 of Jardine's " Naturalist's Library."

HAND BOOK OF ANGLING, teaching Fly Fishing, Trolling, Bottom
Fishing, and Salmon Fishing, with the Natural History of
River Fish, and the best modes of Catching them. By
Ephemera (Edward Fitzgibbon), of " Bell's Life in London."
Fcap. 8vo, Lond. Longman, 1847 — 2d Edit, enlarged, 12mo,
Lond. Ibid. 1848 — 3d Edit, corrected and improved, fcp. 8vo,
Lond. Ibid. 1853.

HANOVER MAGAZINE, No. 23, March 21, 1763, contains the
translation of a letter giving an account of a method to breed
Fish to advantage. 8vo, Lond. 1778.

316

HANSAED (George Agar) Trout and Salmon Fishing in Wales.
8vo, Lond. 1834.

HEEBEET (W. H.) Frank Forrester's Fish and Fishing of the
United States and British Provinces of North America. 8vo,
Lond. Bentley, 1849.

HEEBEET (W. H.) Supplement to Frank Forrester's Fish and
Fishing of the United States, &c. Fcp. 4to, New York, 1850.

HINTS ON ANGLING, with Suggestions for Angling Excursions in
Spain and Belgium, &c. By Palmer Hackle, Esq. (i. e. Eobert
Blakey). 8vo, Lond. Eobinson, 1846.

HINTS TO ANGLEES ; or, the Art of Angling epitomised in
verse, with explanatory notes by T. F. S [alter], an old
Piscator, containing directions for making ground baits, pastes,
&c. 8vo, Lond. 1808.

HINTS on Shooting, Fishing, and the use of the Rod and Rifle,
both on Sea and Land, and on the Fresh Water Lochs of
Scotland: being the experience of Christopher Idle, Esq.
Fcp. 8vo, Lond. Longman, 1855.

HITCHCOCK (E.) Report on the G-eology, &c. of Massachusetts
(containing a Catalogue of Fishes). 8vo, Amherst, 1835.

HOFLAND (T. C.) BEITISH ANGLEE'S MANUAL, or the Art of
Angling in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland ; with some
Account of the Principal Rivers, Lakes, and Trout Streams
in the United Kingdom, with Instructions for Fly Fishing,
Trolling, &c. Numerous Plates. 8vo, Lond. 1839. New
Edit, by E. Jesse, 8vo, Lond. Bohn, 1848.

HOEE (H. F.) Inquiry into the Legislative Control and Improve-
ments of the Salmon and Sea Fisheries of Ireland. 8vo,
Dublin, 1850.

HOWITT. Vide ANGLES' s MANUAL.

HOWLETT (Robert, 'near forty years a practitioner in this art')
School for Recreation ; or, a Guide to the more Ingenious
Exercises. (P. 158, to 182 on Fishing) 8vo, Lond. 1784.
Lond. 1701. 8vo, Lond. 1710. 8vo, Lond. 1720. 8vo, Lond.
1732. 6th Edit. Lond. 1736.

HOWLETT (R.). Vide AN GLEE'S SUEE GUIDE.

317

HUSBANDMAN'S JEWEL, with the Art of Angling, including Fish

and Fish Ponds.
HUTCHINSON (J.) Natural History of the Frog-fish of Surinam.

4to, York, 1797.

INNOCENT EPICUKE ; or, the Art of Angling, a Poem. 12mo,
Lond. 1697. 2d Edit. 1713. 3d Edit. 12mo, 1741, with the
title of Angling, a Poem, only.

The Preface is by N. Tate, to the first edition, to whom it is sometimes
attributed, but the initials of the compiler head the introductory Epistle,
J. S. to C. S., supposed to be the same with the author of the True Art of
Angling.

IEISH Fisheries, State of. 8vo, Dublin, McGrlashan, 1852.

JACKSON (John, of Tanfield Mill) Practical Fly Fisher, more
particularly for Grayling, or Umber. 8vo, Lond. Farlow,
1854.

JACOBS (S. L.) Method of Breeding Fish to Advantage. 8vo,
Lond. Mackintosh, 1788.

JAEDINE (Sir William) British Salmonidse, Parts 1 and 2.
Folio, Lond. Highley, 1839-41.

JAEDINE (Sir William) Fishes of the Perch Family. 12mo,
Edinburgh, Lizars, 1852,

Forming Vol. 38 of Jardine's " Naturalists' Library."

JESSE (Edward, Esq. Deputy Surveyor of His Majesty's Parks)
Grleanings in Natural History, with Local Recollections, to
which are added Maxims and Hints for an Angler. Post 8vo,
Lond. Murray, 1832. 2d Series, 8vo, Lond. 1834. 3d Series,
1835. The 3 Series, in 2 vols. 12mo, 1838. 6th Edit, in 1vol.
12mo, Lond. Murray, 1845.

JESSE (E.) ANGLER'S RAMBLES. Post 8vo, Lond. Yan Yoorst,
1836.

JEWELL for G-ENTBIE ; being an exact Dictionary, or true Me-
thod to make any man understand all the Arts, Secrets, and
Worthy Knowledges belonging to Hawking, Hunting, Fow-
ling and Fishing, together with all the true measures for
winding the Home. Now newly published, and beautified
with all the rarest experiments that are known and practised
at this day. Printed at London by John Helme, in St.

27 §

318

Dunstan's Church Yard, in Fleet Street, 1614, 4to. Vide
Briefe Treatise of Fishing.

JOLLY ANGKLEB ; or, Water-side Companion. 8vo, Lond.
Wilson, 1833. 7th Edit. Lond. (1853).

JONES'S G-UIDE to Norway, and Salmon Fisher's Pocket Compa-
nion. Edited by Frederic Tolfrey. 12mo (with coloured plates
of Flies). Lond. Longman, 1848.

KENTISH ANGLER ; or, the Young Fisherman's Instructor,
shewing the Nature and properties of Fish, which are angled
for in Kent. 12mo, Canterb. 1804.

KIDD'S Instructions for the Art of Angling. 18mo, Lond.
Kidd, 1820.

KIRKBBIDE (John) THE NORTHERN ANGLER, or FLY-FISHER'S
COMPANION. 12mo, Carlisle, 1837, Lond. Tilt, 1840.

KIETLAND (J. P.) Report on the Zoology of Ohio. 8vo, Colum-
bus, 1828.

KNOX (Dr.) Fish and Fishing in the lone Glens of Scotland, with
a History of the Propagation, Growth, and Metamorphoses of
the Salmon. Post 8vo, Lond. Eoutledge, 1854.

JJAM:BERT (James) Country Man's Treasure, to which is added
the Art of Hawking, Hunting, Angling, &c. 8vo, Lond. 1676,
1683.
LANMAN (C.) Adventures of an Angler in Canada, &c. Post 8vo,

London, Bentley, 1848.

LANMAN'S Adventures in the Wilds of North America, including
Fishing Adventures in the Lakes, and Chapters on Salmon and
Trout Fishing, Basse and Rock Fishing, Pike Fishing, and
Fishing in General. Edited by C. R. Weld. 16mo, Lond.
Bentley, 1854.
LASCELLES (Robert, Esq.) Angling, Shooting, Coursing. 8vo,

1815. 2d Edit. 8vo, Lond. 1818.

LATHY (T. P. Esq.), The Angler, a Poem in ten cantos, com-
prising proper instructions in the Art, Flies, Bait, Pastes, &c.
with upwards of twenty beautiful cuts. 8vo. Lond. 1820.

This Poem is only a rifacimento of The Anglers' Eight Dialogues in Verse,
without acknowledgment; some copies are dated 1819, with the following
title, " The Angler, a Poem, in ten cantos, by Piscator." Vide Gentleman's
Magazine, 1819, Part II, p. 405.
Twenty copies were printed on thick paper, and one on vellum.

319

LAWS and ORDINANCES of the City of London relating to
Fishing. 1697, 1785.

LIST of Natural Flies, taken by Trout, &c. in the Streams of
Ripon. 12mo, Lond. Simpkin, 1854.

LONDON ANGLER'S BOOK ; or, Waltonian Chronicle, containing
much original information to Anglers generally, combined with
numerous amusing songs, and anecdotes of Fish and Fishing,
never before published, &c. 8vo, Lond. Baddeley (the
Author). 1834.

LORD (P. B.) Fishes, 8vo, Lond. Whittaker, 1834.

Forming Vol. 10 of Griffith's "Animal Kingdom."

MACKINTOSH (Alexander, of Great Driffield, Yorkshire.) The
Driffield Angler, in Two parts ; or, Complete English Angler.
18mo, Gainsborough. Several Editions.

MARKHAM (G-ervase) Cheap and Good Husbandry. 4to, Lond.
1615, contains a short chapter on Fish and Fish Ponds, 1616,
1631, 1658. 13th Edition, 1676.

MARKHAM (Gervase) Young Sportsman's Instructor in Angling,
Fowling, Hawking, Hunting. 48mo, sold at the Golden Ring,
in Little Britain, price 6d. Lond. 1652. Reprinted by Gosden,
1820.

(Advertised, 1744, "by a second title, as) A Compleat and Experienced
Angler, in two parts; or, the Angler's Vade Mecum. 12mo, printed for
Conyers. There was another Edition (same size) printed by S. Gumidg at
Worcester, n.d. the portion relating to Hawking is omilted.

Among the additions by Gervase Markham to Maison Rustique; or, the
Countrey Farrne, compiled in the French tongue, by Charles Stevens and
John Liebault, also translated by Richard Surllet. Fol. Lond. 1616. Book iv,
chap, xi — xvii, relate to the Poole, Fish-pond, and Ditch, for Fish. In the
modern editions of La Maison Rustique, will be found much useful matter
relating to Angling and Fishing, as now practised in France.

MARKHAM'S (Gervase) Countrey Contentments ; or, the Hus-
bandman's Recreations. 1st Edit. 4to, Lond. 1611. 2d Edit.
1613. 3d Edit. 1615. 4th Edit. 1631. 5th Edit. 1635,
6th Edit. 1639. 7th Edit. 1640. 8th Edit. 1649. 9th Edit.
1656. 10th Edit. 1668. llth Edit. 1675.

The first edition does not contain the Treatise on Angling. The Treatise
is headed, "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 enlarged." The rimes from which the Art of Angling was
taken, were probably those by John Uennys, in his Secrets of Angling, 1613.
It is word for word the same as the Treatise published under the title of
" The Pleasures of Princes," vide postta.

320

MARTIN (J.) Angler's Companion and Ghiide to the Whitehouse
Fishery ; to which is added, a Trip to Broxbourn, or a Trol-
ling Excursion. 12mo, London, Cowie and Strange, n. d.

MARTIN (Kev. James) ANGLER'S GUIDE ; the most complete
and Practical ever written. To which is added a graphic and
laughable Story, entitled "The Three Jolly Anglers." 12mo,
Lond. Cox, 1854.

MASCALL (Leonard), Booke of Fishing with Hooke and Line,
and all other instruments thereunto belonging ; also of sundrie
Engines and Traps, to take Polcats, Buzzards, Eats, Mice, &c.
&c. with very curious woodcuts of the pike and proche hook,
instruments, &c. &c. 4to. Lond. 1590, printed by John Wolfe.
Lond. 1596. Lond. 1600. Lond. 1606.

This Treatise contains a few improvements on Juliana Barnes, with
remarks on the preservation of fish in ponds.

MAXIMS and HINTS for an Angler, and Miseries of Fishing.
Illustrated by Drawings on Stone, to which are added Maxims
and Hints for a Chess Player. 12mo, Lond. Murray, 1833.
2d Edit. 1839. New Edition, 12mo, Lond. Murray, 1855.

This volume is attributed to Richard Penn, Esq., the great grandson of
"William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. The author's name is added
to the new edition.

MCCLELLAND (John) Indian Cyprinidse. 4to, Lond. Parbury,

1839.
MEDWIN (Thomas, Esq. late of the Guards), The Angler in

Wales ; or, Days and Nights of Sportsmen. 2 vols. 8vo,

Lond. 1834.
MEMOIR (an authentic historical) of the Schuylkill Fishing Com-

pany of the State of Schuylkill, from its establishment on that

Romantic Stream, near Philadelphia, in the year 1732, to the

present time. By a Member. 8vo, Philadelphia, Judah

Dobson, 1830.

An amusing account of a very ancient Fishing Club, founded by a few of

,
the original settlers in Pennsylvania, many of them emigrants with Penn

e Ne

sylv.
the Association still exists.— New York edition of

,

to the New World, residents in and near the young thinly inhabited City of
Pennsylvani

World, residents in and near the young thinly inhabited City of
a. In the Catalogue are names of very high distinction; and
ion still exists.— New York edition of Walton and Cotton.

MILLER'S (Dr.) Letters on the Herring Fishery in the Moray
Frith (size, date, &c. not known).

321

MITCHELL (W. A.) on the Pleasure and Utility of Angling, a

paper read to the Waltonian Club. Post 8vo, Newcastle-upon-

Tyne, Charnley, 1824.
MODERN Angler, containing the most esteemed Methods of

Angling for every species of pond and river fish, &c. 8vo,

pp. 24, Derby, Eichardson.
MONRO (Alexander, M.D.) on the Structure and Physiology of

Fishes. Folio, Edinb. 1785.
MOULE (Thomas) The Heraldry of Fish. 8vo, Lond. Van

Voorst, 1842.

JN AMES of Fish and their Seasons. 4to, [a broadside ?]
NEIL'S COMPLETE ANGLER ; or, the Whole Art of Fishing.

10th Edit. 8vo, 1804. 20th Edit. 1830.

NEW and Excellent Experiments, and Secrets in the ART OF
ANGLING ; being directions for the whole Art. 12ino, 1st
Edit. 1675. 2d Edit. Lond. 1677. 3d Edit. 1684. Vide
Accomplished Lady's Delight.

NEWLAND (Eev. Henry) THE ERNE, its Legends and its Fly-
Fishing. Post 8vo, Lond. Chapman and Hall, 1851.
NEWLAND (Rev. Henry) FOREST SCENES in Norway and Sweden,
being Extracts from the Journal of a Fisherman. 12mo, Lond.
Eoutledge, 1854.

NICHOL (E.). Vide NORTH COUNTRY ANGLER'S GARLANDS,
NOBBES (Eev. Eobert, M. A. of Northampton) Complete Trol-
ler ; or, the Art of Trolling. 8vo, Lond. 1682. Eeprinted
in fac-simile, 1790. 3d Edit, prefixed to the Angler's Pocket
Book. 8vo, Norwich, no date. 4th Edit, appended to another
Edition of the Angler's Pocket Book. 8vo, Lond. 1805.
Nobbes' Art of Trolling. New Edition, 8vo, Lond. 1814.
There have been several Editions since 1814.

From the circumstance of the author of this work signing himself M. A,
at the end of his verses on the Antiquitie and Invention of Fishing, and
from the Commendatory Verses by Cambridge men in the first edition of
this work, printed 1683, I suspect him to have been the Robert Nobbes
mentioned in Bishop Rennet's Manuscript Collections, as holding the
Vicarages of Apethorp and Wood Newton, in Northamptonshire, in 1676.
I believe he succeeded Dr. Robert South. — Sir IT. E.

The second edition was a reprint of 1682 in fac-similc, in 1790, by John
Barker.

322

NOBLE (Robert) DE ARTE PISCATORIA. A Manuscript in the
possession of the Editor of the New York Edition of Walton
and Cotton ; it is fully described in the Appendix to that work.
NORTH'S (Hon. Roger) Discourse of Fish and Fish Ponds.
Done by a Person of Honour. 8vo, Lond. printed for Curll,
1713, 1714, 1715, Large 4to, Lond. 1773, with the author's
name in the title page.

This work is also found in an appendage to the Gentleman Farmer. 8vo,
Lond. 1728. See also Albin's Esculent Fish.

NORTH COUNTRY ANGLER ; or, the Art of Angling, as practised
in the Northern Counties of England. 8vo, Lond. 1786. 2d
Edit. 1787. 3d Edit. 8vo, Leeds, 1800. 4th Edit. 12mo,
Lond. Richardson, 1801. 5th Edit. 8vo, Lond. 1817.
NORTH COUNTRY ANGLER'S GARLANDS. A Collection of Right
Merrie Garlands for North Country Anglers. Post 8vo, New-
castle, Charnley, 1842.

A List of the Pieces in this Volume, with the Dates of their original Pub-
lication, and Names of the Authors, now first given correctly.

1. The Angler's Progress ; a Poem, developing the pleasure

the Angler receives, from the dawn of the propensity in
infancy till the period of his becoming a complete
Angler.

2. The Fisher's Garland for 1821.

3. The Fisher's Garland for 1822.

4. The Fisher's Garland for 1823.

5. The Fisher's Garland for 1824.

6. The Tyne Fisher's Farewell to his Favourite Stream, on

the approach of Winter, 1824.

7. The Fisher's Garland for 1825.

8. The Fisher's Garland for 1826.

9. The Fisher's Garland for 1827.

10. The Fisher's Garland for 1828.

11. The Fisher's Garland for 1829.

12. The Fisher's Garland for 1830.

13. The Fisher's Garland for 1831.

14. The Fisher's Garland for 1832.

15. The Fisher's Garland for 1833.

323

16. The Fisher's Garland for 1834.

17. The Fisher's Garland for 1835.

18. The Fisher's Garland for 1836.

19. The Fisher's Garland for 1837.

20. The Fisher's Garland for 1838.

21. The Fisher's Garland for 1839.

22. The Fisher's Garland for 1840.

23. The Fisher's Garland for 1841.

24. The Fisher's Garland for 1842.

25. The Fisher's Garland, Autumn number for 1842.

26. The Fisher's Garland for 1843.

Tims far were collected into one volume, according to the Title given
above, the subsequent ones separately printed are : —

27. The Fisher's Garland for 1844. Printed for William

Garret.

28. The Auld Fisher's Invitation to his Friend, 1844. Ditto.

29. The Fisher's Garland for 1845. Ditto.

No. 1 was written by Herman Boaz, and originally printed in 1789. Fide
BOAZ.

Nos. 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 14, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29 were written by
Robert Roxby and Thomas Doubleday conjointly — Roxby breathing into
them the poetical spirit, and Doubleday making their joints flexible.

Nos. 3, 6, 13, 16, 20, 21, and 22 were written by William Gill Thompson.

No. 9 was written by William Green.

No. 10 and 11 were written by Thomas Doubleday.

No. 15 was written by Robert Nichol.

Nos. 17, 18, and 19 were written by William Andrew Chatto.

O'CONNOR (R.) INTRODUCTION to the FIELD SPORTS of France,
being a Practical View of Hunting, Shooting and Fishing.
Post 8vo, Lond. (printed at St. Omer) Murray, 1846.

0' GORMAN. — The Practice of ANGLING, particularly as regards
Ireland. 2 vols. post 8vo, Dublin, 1845.

OLIVER (Stephen, the younger, of Aldwark, i.e. W. A. Chatto)
Scenes and Recollections of Fly Fishing, in Northumberland,
Cumberland, and Westmoreland. 12mo, Lond. 1834.

OPPIAN'S Halieuticks of the Nature of Fishes and Fishing of the
Ancients j in five books. Translated from the Greek (into

324

English verse), with an Account of Oppian's Life and Wri-
tings, and a Catalogue of his Fishes. 8vo, Oxford, 1722.

JIAPPE (L. M.D.) Synopsis of the Edible Fishes at the Cape of

G-ood Hope. 8vo, Cape Town, 1854.
PARNELL (Eichard, M.D., F.E.S.E.) Fishes of the Forth. STO,

Edinburgh, Blackwood, 1838.
PENN (Eichard). Vide MAXIMS AND HINTS.
PENNANT (Thomas) British Zoology. 4 vols. 8vo, last edit.

Lond. 1812.

Vol. iii contains the Fishes.

PERPETUAL MEMORANDUM, and Universal Pocket Book, for
Ladies, G-entlemen, and Men of Business together with the
Complete Art of Angling, with the different baits, &c. in every
month of the year. 8vo.

The advertisement of this little treatise, which consists of only thirty-three
pages, is dated Penrith, 1791.

PHELPS (S.) Treatise on the Importance of extending the British
Fisheries. 8vo, Lond. Shnpkin, 1818.

PHILLIPS (Henry) The True Enjoyment of ANGLING. 8vo, Lond.
Pickering, 1843.

PICKERING (Wm.) Vide BIBLIOTHECA PISCATORIA.

PISCATORY ECLOGUES : an Essay to introduce new Eules and
new Characters into Pastoral. To which is prefixed a Discourse
in defence of this undertaking, with practical and philosophical
Notes, 8vo, Loud. 1729.

PISCATORIAL Eeminiscences and Gleanings, by an Old Angler
and Bibliopolist (Thos. Boosey). Fcap. 8vo, Lond. Pickering,
1835.

PLAN for the Improvement of the Fishery in the Eiver Thames.
8vo, Lond. 1787.

PLEASURE of PRINCES ; or, G-ood Men's Eecreations, containing
a Discourse of the General Art of Fishing with the Angle,
or otherwise, of all the hidden secrets belonging thereunto,
together with the choyce, ordering, breeding, and dyetting of
the fighting cocke, being, a worke never in that nature handled

325

by any former author. 4to. Lond. 1614. 4to, Lond. printed

by T. S. for John Browne, 1615. 4to, Lond. Norton, 1635.

This work forms a part of the second book of G. Markham's English

Husbandman, but not with a copy of 1613, and also printed in Markham's

Country Contentments.

PLEASURES OF ANGLING, translated from the Musse Anglican® ;
see Miscellany Poems and Translations, by Henry Travers,
M.A. of Nun-Burnho}me, in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
York, 1740. 8vo, pp. 131-137.
For some notice of Travers, the Translator, see Pegge's Anonymiana, p. 78.

POLLARD (Richard, Esq. of Clapton), The New and Complete.
Angler ; or, Universal Fisherman. 8vo, Lond. 1802.

PRACTICAL ANGLER. By Piscator. 8vo, Lond. Simpkin, 1843
and 1846.

PRACTICAL FLY-FISHING founded on Nature, with Illustrations
for imitating all the most useful Flios, also Remarks on Fly
Rods. By Arundo. 12mo, Lond. Johns, 1849.

PRACTICAL Observations on Angling in the River Trent ; by a
G-entleman resident in the neighbourhood, who has made the
amusement his study for upwards of twenty years. [Charles
Snart, attorney, Newark.] 8vo, Newark, 1801. 12mo, Lond.
Robinson, 1812.

PULMAN (GK P. R.) BOOK OF THE AXE ; containing a Piscatorial
and Topographical Description of that charming Stream, and
a History of the Towns, Villages, &c. on its Banks.'' Fcp. 8vo,
Lond. Longman, 1841. 2d Edit. fcp. 8vo, 1844. 3d Edit,
post 8vo, with several Illustrations and a Map, 1854.

PULMAN (G-. P. R.) VADE YECUM OF FLY-FISHING FOR TROUT;
being a complete practical Treatise on that branch of the Art
of Angling, with plain and copious Instructions for the Manu-
facture of artificial Flies, &c. Fcp. 8vo, Lond. Longman,
1841. 2d Edit. 1844. 3d Edit, re-written and greatly
enlarged, 1851.

PULMAN (Gr. P. R.) RUSTIC SKETCHES, being Rhymes on Ang-
ling and other subjects of Rural Life, in the Dialect of the West
of England, with Notes and a Glossary. Fcp. 8vo, Lond.
Longman, 1842. 2d Edit, post 8vo, Lond. J. Gr. Bell, 1853.

28

326

RAFINESQFE (C. S.) Ichthyologia Ohiensis, or Natural History

of the Fishes inhabiting the Eiver Ohio and its tributary

streams, 8vo, Lexington, Kentucky, 1820.
EAMBLES AND EECOLLECTIONS OF A FLY-FISHEE. Illustrated,
. with an Appendix, containing ample Instructions to the Novice

inclusive of Fly-making, and a List of really useful Flies. By

Clericus. Post 8vo, Lond, Chapman & Hall, 1854.
EAMSBOTTOM (E.) THE SALMON, and its Artificial Propagation.

8vo, 1854.
EENNIE'S (James, M.A. !*rofessor of Zoology, King's College,)

Alphabet of Scientific Angling, for the use of Beginners (witk

a portrait of Christopher North) . 12mo, Lond. 1833.
EEPOBT of the Commissioners of Fisheries in Ireland for 1853.

Folio, Dublin, Thorn. 1854. '
EEPOBTS on the Fishes, Eep tiles, and Birds of Massachusetts

(By D. H. Storer and W. B. O. Peabody). 8vo, Boston, 1839.
EICHABDSON (Sir John) Fauna B or eali- Americana. Fishes.

4to, Lond. Bentley, 1836.
EIVEB DOVE ; with some quiet Thoughts on the happy practice

of Angling near to the Seat of Mr. Charles Cotton, at Beresford

Hall, in Staffordshire. (By J. L. Anderdon), 12mo (no place

or printer's name.)

Tliis edition was printed for private circulation. Six copies were printed
in 4to ; six copies also of the 12mo size were printed on tinted paper.

EIVER DOVE ; with some quiet Thoughts on the happy practice
of Angling. (By J. L. Anderdon) , 12mo, Lond. Pickering, 1847.

EONALDS (Alfred) Fly Fisher's Entomology, illustrated by co-
loured representations of the natural and artificial Insect, with
observations and instructions relative to Trout and Grayling
Fishing. Post 8vo, Lond. 1836. 2d Edit. Lond. 1839.
4th Edit. Lond. Longman, 1850.

EOXBY (E.). Vide NOETH COTJNTBY ANGKLEE'S G-ABLANDS.

ETJLES AND EEGULATIONS of the Walton and Cotton Club, insti-
tuted 19th March, 1817. 4to, Lond. 1821.

Eevised, 8th April, 1840. Sq. 8vo, Lond. 1840.

EULES AND EEGTJLATIONS of the Cambridge University Walton
and Cotton Club. Instituted 25th April, 1825. 4to, Camb. 1826.

327

RULES AND ORDERS for Fishing in the Thames and in the Waters
of the Medway, 8vo, 1785. 8vo, Lond. 1827. Tide Binnell
and Griffith.

RUSSELL (Patrick) Descriptions and Figures of 200 Fishes col-
lected on the Coast of Coromandel. 2 vols. folio, Lond. 1803.

S ALTER (Robert, Esq.), The Modern Angler, being a practical
Treatise on the Art or Fishing, &c. in a series of Letters to a
Friend. Oswestry, 1811.

The letters were addressed to the Rev. Morgan Pryse.

SALTEB (T. F. Gent, of Clapton), The Angler's Guide, being a
New, Plain, and Complete Practical Treatise on Angling, for
Sea, River, and Pond Fish, deduced from many years' ex-

. perience and observation. 8vo, Lond. 1814. 2d Edit. 8vo,
Lond. 1815. 3d Edit. 8vo, Lond. 1815. 4th Edit, 8vo, Lond.

1816. 5th Edit. 8vo, Lond. . 6th Edit. 12mo, Lond.

1826. 7th Edit. 12mo, Lond. 1830. 8th Edit. 12mo, Lond;
1833. 12mo, Lond. Maynard, 1841. 12mo, Lond. Bohn.
The Troller's Guide was added to the 12mo. and later editions.

SALTEB (T. F.) Vide HINTS TO ANGLERS.
SALTER'S Young Angler's Guide ; abridged from the above work,
18mo. 2dEdit. 12mo, Lond. 3d Edit. 12mo, Lond. 1829.

SALTER'S Troller's Guide, being a Complete Practical Treatise on
the Art of Trolling or Fishing for Pike and Jack, with twenty -
eight plates. 12mo, Lond. 1820. 12mo, 2d Edit. 1830.

SANNAZARIUS (Ja.) Osiers, a Pastoral, translated from the Latin
of Sannazarius, with some account of Sannazarius and his
Piscatory Eclogues. 4to, Camb. 1724.

SANNAZARIUS' S Piscatory Eclogues, by Rooke. 8vo, Lond. 1726

SAUNDERS (James, Esq. of Newton Awbery, upon Trent), The
Compleat Fisherman, or Universal Angler, being a largo and
particular account of all the several ways of Fishing now
practised in Europe. 12mo, Lond. 1724. 2d Edit. Lond,
1778. 4to, Edit. Fielding and Walker, Lond. n. d.
The first author that mention* silk-worm gui.

328

SCHOMBUEGK (Sir Eobert H.) Natural History of the Fishes of

Ghiiana. 2 vols. 12mo, Edinb. Lizars, 1841-3.

Forming vols. 39 and 40 of Jardine's " Naturalist's Library.5'
SCHTJLTES' (Henry), Essay on Aquatic Bights, intended as an

illustration of the law relative to Fishing, &c. 8vo, Lond.

1811.
SCEOPE (W.) DATS AND NIGHTS OP SALMON FISHING IN THE

TWEED ; with a Short Account of the Natural History and

Habits of the Salmon, Instructions to Sportsmen, &c. Boyal

8vo, Lond. Murray, 1843.
SECEETS of ANGLING, by C. &., a brother of the Angle. 12mo,

Lond. 1705.
SHAW (J.) Observations on the Growth of Salmon Fry. 4to,

Edinb. 1840.
SHILLINGLAW (Rev. Thomas), A New System of Angling. 2 vols.

18mo. (ride Pickering. Eib. Piscat.)

Intended to have been published by subscription, but never appeared.
SHIPLEY'S (William) True Treatise on the Art of Fly-Fishing,

Trolling, &c. as practised on the Dove, and on the principal

Streams of the Midland Counties. Edited by Edward Fitz-

gibbon. 8vo, Lond. 1838.
SHIELET'S (Thomas, of Bichmond, Surrey), Angler's Museum ;

or, the whole Art of Float and Fly-Fishing, with portrait of

Kirby, the celebrated Angler. 12mo, Lond. 1784*. 2d Edit.

12mo. 3d Edit. 12mo.
SMITH (Thomas) Every Man his own Fisherman. 24mo, Lond.

published about 1770 or 1776.
SMITH'S AET OP ANGLING. 1814.
SMITH'S (Dr.) Account of the Fishes in Massachusetts, and

Observations on Angling. 8vo, Boston, 1833. •
SNAET (Chas.). Vide PEACTICAL OBSEEVATIONS.
SOUTH (Theop.). Vide FLY-FISHEE'S TEXT-BOOK.
SPOETSMAN (The) in Ireland and Scotland. 2 vols. post 8vo,

Lond. Colburn, 1840.
STEELE (Sir Bichard) Account of the Fishpool, consisting of a

vessel so called, lately invented and built for the importation

of Fish alive and in good health from parts however distant,

by Mr. Joseph Grillman, Mathematician. 8vo, Lond. 1718.

329

STEVENSON (M.), The Twelve Months; or, a pleasant and
Profitable Discourse of every action, whether of labour or
Recreation, proper to each particular Month, branched into
directions relating to Husbandry, as Plowing, Sowing, Gar-
dening, Planting, &c. &c. also the ordering of Cattle and Bees :
of Recreations, as Hunting, Hawking, Fishing, Fowling,
Coursing, &c. Likewise is added necessary advice touching
physick, &c. 4to, Lond. 1661.

STODDAET (Thomas Tod) ANGLING REMINISCENCES. 12mo,
Edinburgh, 1837. Lond. 1848.

STODDAET (Thomas Tod) ANGLEE'S COMPANION to the Rivers
and Lochs of Scotland. Post 8vo, Lond. Blackwood, 1847.
2d Edit. 1853.

STODDAET (Thomas Tod) Art of Angling, as practised in Scot-
land. 12mo, Edin. 1835.

STOPFOED AND ANDEEWS. Royat Irish Fisheries Company.
First Report 1849— Second Report 1851. 8vo, Dublin,
Browne and Nolan.

STOEEE (David Humphreys) Fishes of North America. 4to,
Cambridge, TJ. S.1846.

STOEEE (D. H.) History of the Fishes of Massachusetts. 4to,
Boston, 1854.

STOEEE (D. H.) see Reports.

SWAINSON (William) Natural History of Fishes. 2 vols. 12mo,
London, Longman.

Forming Vols. 109 and 116 of " Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia."

SYLVESTEE'S POEMS, containing also Piscatio ; or, Art of
Angling. 8vo, Oxford, 1733. Vide Ford.

S — — (GL) Vide ANGLEE'S MAGAZINE.

IAYEENEE'S (John) Certaine Experiments concerning Fish and

Fruite, practised by him, published for the benefit of others.

4ta, printed by W. Ponsonby, 1600. .
TATE'S AET OE ANGLING, a Poem. 1741. Vide Innocent

Epicure,
TAT. The Fisheries in the River Tay. 8vo, Edinburgh, Ramsay,

1824.

28 §

330

TAILOR (J.) The Trent Fisher. 8vo, Stafford, 1781.

TAYLOR'S (Sam. Gent.) Angling in all its Branches, reduced to
a Complete Science, in three parts. 8vo, Lond. 1800.

THOMPSON (J.) HAND-BOOK OP ANGLING. Bristol, 1825.
THOMPSON (W.G.). Vide NORTH COUNTRY ANGLER'S GARLANDS.

THOMSON (James) on the Value and Importance of the Scottish
Fisheries. 12mo, Lond. Smith and Elder, 1849.

TRUE ART OF ANGLING, by J. S. Gent, a Brother of the
Angle. 24mo, Lond. 1696. 2d Edit. Lond. 1697. Compleat
Fisher ; or, True Art of Angling, by J. S., the 3d Edit. 24mo,
Lond. 1704. 4th Edit. 24mo, Lond. 1716. 5th Edit. 24mo,
Lond. 1725. 6th Edit. n. d.

In tlie next edition the title was altered as follows :

THE COMPLEAT FISHER, or True Art of Angling ; revised and cor-
rected by W. Wright and other experienced Anglers. Sold by John
Osborn, at the Golden Bull, Paternoster Row. 1740.
At the back of the title is a recommendation of the work, signed
Wm. Wright, J. Turner, Phillips Brice,

Hob. Cole, Rob. Lewes, J. Hollings,

Wm. Andrews, Roger Filewood,

which asserts that " this book has passed several editions." The places
round London for Angling noticed in this work are worth attention.

Sir H. Ellis has another edition of this work in his library, printed
for J. Hazard and J.Wright, fronting Stationers' Hall, n. d.

There is another edition, of the same size, title, and date, with a different
wood-cut at the beginning, and with material variations.— (Pickering's
Bib. Piscat.)
The work was reproduced as the

TRUE ART OF ANGLING being a clear and speedy way of taking all
sorts of Fresh-water Fish, with the worm, fly, paste, and other
baits in their proper seasons, &c. 12mo. Lond. Onesimus
Ustonson. 1770.

Between this and Hazard and Wright's edition, there was one, " printed
for John Herro in Bell Yard, Temple Bar," Ustonson's predecessor, which
we have not met with.

TTJRTON (John, of Sheffield, Yorkshire,) ANGLER'S MANUAL, or
Fly-Fisher's Oracle, with a brief Compendium of Bottom-
Fishing. 12mo, Lond. Groombridge. Sheffield : Eidge, 1836.

UNIVERSAL ANGLER; or, that Art Improved in all its parts,

331

especially in Fly-fishing. The whole interspersed with many
cuiious and uncommon Observations. 12mo, Lond. 1766.
/This book is copied from Bowlker's Art of Angling, printed at Worcester,
yith some few additions taken from Walton, Cotton, and Hawkins. —
White.

NIEB'S Book upon Fish, translated by the Eev. J. Buncombe,
tith a brief Introduction, and passages from English Writers,
' selected as notes. 8vo, Lond. 1809.

This Translation of Vanier was inserted entire in the Censura Literaria,
by Mr. Haslewood, the separate copies to which the title was added were
but few; the whole was printed by Daniel, in his Supp. to Rural Sports.

( VENABLES (Colonel Eobert), The EXPERIENCED ANGLES ; or,
Angling Improved, being a General Discourse of Angling.
8vo, Lond. 1662.

Advertised as now newlv extant, in the Kingdom's Intelligencer of
Sept. 9, 1661.

2d Edit. 12mo, Lond. 3d Edit. 12mo, Lond. 1668. 4th Edit.
12mo, Lond. 1676. 5th Edit. 12mo, Lond. 1683. 6th Edit.
8vo, Lond. 1825. A reprint, with a Memoir of Colonel Robert
Venables by J. H. Burn.

The second edition was probably printed about 1666, and burnt in the
great fire; no copy is at present known.

Col. Venables' name first appears in the third edition.
The fourth edition forms the third part of the fifth edition of Walton and
Cotton.

vY ALCOTT (John) Figures, Description and History of Exotic
Animals comprised under the classes Amphibia and Pisces of
Linnaeus. 4to, Lond. 1788.

WALTON'S (Isaac, of Stafford) COMPLEAT ANGLEB; or, the
Contemplative Man's Recreation, being a Discourse of Fish
and Fishing, not unworthy the perusal of most Anglers.
12mo, Lond. 1653. 2d Edit. 12mo, Lond. 1655. 3d Edit.
12mo, Lond. 1664. 4th Edit. 12mo, Lond. 1668. 5th Edit.
12mo, forming the first of the Universal Angler, by Walton,
Cotton, and Yenables. 12mo, Lond. 1676.

A facsimile reprint of the 1st edition appeared in 1810. 12mo, Lond.
Bagster.

The 2d edition, which was published only two years after the first, appears
to have been almost re-written, with the introduction of a third interlocutor
in Aucqos, and great additions in every part.

332

The 3d edition, Lond. 1661 and 1664, lias titles of both dates, no other
variance.

The 3d edition is the first that has the postscript touching the Laws of
• Angling, and an index.

The 4th edition is a paginary reprint from the third edition.

The 5th edition is augmented, and the second part added on fishing for
Trout and Grayling, written by Charles Cotton, Esq. of Beresford.

The above are all the editions of the Complete Angler, published during
the author's life.

WALTON AND COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLEE, edited by MOSES
BEOWNE. 12mo, Loud. 1750. Other Editions, 1759, 1772.
WALTON AND COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLEE, edited by JOHN
HAWKINS, Esq., afterwards Sir John Hawkins. 8vo, London,
1760. Other Editions, 1766 (the previous Edition with a new
title page), 1775, 1784, 1792, edited by John Sidney Hawkins,
Esq. ; 1797, edited by the same, but without the large plates ;
1808, printed by Bagster (in three sizes — demy 8vo, royal
8vo and 4to) ; 1815, edited by Sir Henry Ellis, with new
Notes, &c. printed by Bagster, at Broxbourne (in two sizes,
demy 8vo and royal 8vo) .

Advertised 27th Sept. 1759, as in the pi ess and speedily will be published
in opposition to Moses Browne's 7th edition, published in that year. On the
1st July, 1760, it appeared announced as the only correct and complete edi-
tion, "and the reader was informed that cuts are now added of the principal
scenes, designed by Mr. Wale, and engraved by Eyland, in which the cha-
racters are dressed in the habits of the times, which cuts, the reader may be
assured, cost, in designing and engraving, upwards of one hundred pounds."
Browne put forth a rival advertisement, showing his own emendation of the
poetry, declaring the boasted plates " copied from the designs in his and the
life of Walton, in chief part borrowed from the one printed by him."

In 1765, in May and June, advertisements were put forth o'f this edition,
by Rivingtons, with a new title.

WALTON AND COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLEE, with Notes. By
Sir John Hawkins. 18mo, Lond. Dove, 1825.

WALTON AND COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLEE, with Notes. By
Sir John Hawkins. Edited by James Bennie. 12mo, Lond.
Orr, 184 , 12mo, Manchester, Johnson, 1851.

WALTON AND COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLEE. Edited by T.
Gosden. 8vo, London, J. Smith, 1822.

WALTON AND COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLEE, edited by JOHN

' MAJOE. Royal 12mo and 8vo, Lond. Major, 1823. 2d Edit.
Lond. ib. 1824. 3d Edit. 1835, reprinted, Lond. L. A. Lewis,
1839; reprinted, Lond. Washboume, 1842. 4th Edit, re-
edited, with a new set of plates, Lond. Bogue, 1844.

333

WALTON AND COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLEB. 48mo, Lond.

Pickering, 1825. Another, 32mo, Lond. Pickering, 1827.
WALTON AND COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLES. 2 vols. 12mo,
Chiswick, printed by Whittingham, for T. Tegg, 1824 & 1826.
WALTON'S AND COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLES, with Lives of the
Authors by Sir Harris Nicolas, and Illustrations by Stothard
and Inskipp. 2 vols. imperial 8vo, Lond. Pickering, 1835-6.

This splendid edition contains the variations of all the editions, and addi-
tional notes, with original and elaborate Memoirs of Walton and Cotton,
which present many new facts of the writers.

WALTON AND COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLEE. 2 vols. 24mo,
miniature edition. Lond. Tilt. 1837.

WALTON AND COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLEE, with copious Notes,
for the most part original ;' a Bibliographical Preface, giving
an account of Fishing and Fishery ; Books from the earliest
antiquity to the time of Walton, and a Notice of Cotton and
his writings, by the American Editor. To which is added, an
Appendix, including illustrative Ballads, Music, Papers on
American Fishing, and the most complete Catalogue of Books
on Angling, &c. ever printed; also a General Index to the
whole work. Post 8vo, New York, Wiley and Putnam, 1847.
Wiley, N.Y. 1848.

WALTON AND COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLEE, with a new Biogra-
phical Introduction and Notes. 12mo, Lond. Causton, 1851.

WALTON AND COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLEE. Edited by
EPHEMEEA (Edward Fitzgibbon), of 'Bell's Life in London.'
12mo, Lond. Ingram and Cook, 1853.

WAED (Rev. Samuel) Natural History of Fishes. 2 vols. 12mo,
Lond. Newberry, 1770.

WATTH'S (C.) TEOUT FISHING, or the Eiver Darent. A Poem.
Post 8vo, Lond. 1845.

WHEATLEY (Hewett) THE ROD AND LINE ; or, Practical Hints
and Dainty Devices for the sure taking of Trout, Grayling,
&c. Fcp. 8vo, with coloured plates. Lond. Longman, 1849.

WHITNEY (John, a Lover of the Angle,) GENTEEL RECEEA-
TION ; or, the Pleasures of Angling : a Poem, with a Dialogue
between Piscator and Corydon. 12mo, Lond. 1700. Reprinted
(only one hundred copies) 1820.
Whitney appears to have been a native of Kent, and was born about 1640.

334

WHOLE ART OF FISHING ; being a Collection and Improvement
of all that has been written on the subject, with many new ex-
periments. 8vo, Lond. Curll, 1714. 2d Edit, entitled 'The
Gentleman Fisher; or, the Whole Art of Angling.' 8vo,
Lond. 1727.

WILKINSON'S ANGLEE'S COMPLETE ASSISTANT. 4to.

WILLIAMSON (John, G-ent., with above thirty years' experience),
THE BEITISH AN GLEE ; or, a Pocket Companion for Gentle-
man Fishers. 8vo, Lond. — . 8vo, Lond. 1740.

WILLIAMSON (Capt. T., Author of the Wild Sports of India),
THE COMPLETE ANG-LEE'SVADE MECUM, being a perfect Code
of Instruction on that pleasing science. 8vo, Lond. 1808.

WILLUGHBEII (F.) Historia Piscium cura J. Eaii. Folio, Oxon.
1686.

WILSON (James) THE ROD AND THE GUN. 8vo, Edinb. 1840.
2d Edit, post 8vo, 1844.

WILSON (James) Introduction to the Natural History of Fishes,
4to, Edinburgh, Black, 1838.

WOOD (William) Illustrations of British Fresh Water Fish. 3
Nos. (all that were printed). Royal 8vo and 4to, Lond.
Wood.

YAEEELL (William) History of British Fishes. 2 vols. 8vo,
Lond. Yan Yoorst, 1835-6. 2nd edit. 2 vols, 8vo, 1841.

Copies were printed on royal 8vo and imperial 8vo. A supplement to the
first edition was published in 1839.

YAEEELL (William) on the Growth of the Salmon in fresh
water. Folio, Lond. Yan Yoorst, 1839.

YOUNG ANGLEE'S ASSISTANT ; or, a New and Complete Treatise
on the Art of Angling. 32mo, Lond. Mason, 1813.

YOUNG ANGLEE'S COMPANION ; containing the Whole Art, &c.
1682. A reprint of Gilbert varying the title, and has added
" how to Fox Fish," to fill what was a blank page in the pre-
ceding editions.

YOUNG ANGLEE'S COMPANION; illustrated with fifty engravings
12mo, Lond. March, n. d. (A Sixpenny Pamphlet.)

YOUNG SPOETSMAN'S MISCELLANY in Hunting, Shooting, Racing,
Angling, &c. 12mo, 1826.

335

YOUNG (The) ANGLES' s INSTEUCTOE. 18mo, 1840.

YOUNG ANGLEE'S GUIDE in Fly-Fishing, Bottom -Fishing, Troll-
ing, &c. 8vo. 1839.

YOUNG (Andrew) Natural History and Habits of the Salmon.
18mo, Lond. Orr, 1848— fcp. 8vo, Lond. Longman, 1854.

YOUNG (Andrew). See Book of the Salmon.

YOUNGEE (William) EIVEE ANGLING for Salmon and Trout in the
Tweed and its Tributaries. 12mo, Edinb. Blackwood, 1840.

LONDON : TUCKER & CO., PKINTER8, PERRX'S PLACE, OXFORD STREET.

Valuable and Interesting Books,

PUBLISHED Oil SOLD BY

JOHN RUSSELL SMITH,

36 Soho Square, London.

, 3$i0grap!)2, atrt Criticism.

IOGEAPHIA BEITANNICA LITEEAEIA, or Bio-
graphy of Literary Characters of Great Britain and Ireland. ANGLO-
SAXON PERIOD. By Thomas Wright, M.A., F.S.A., &c., Membre dc
1'Institut de France. Thick 8vo, cloth, 6s. (original price 12s.)

_ _ ---- THE ANGKLO-NOEMAN PEEIOD. Thick 8vo,
cloth, 6s. (original price 12s.) Published under the superintendence of the Council
of the lloyal Society of Literature.
There is no work in the English Language sive and connected History of the Litera-
which gives the reader such a comprehen- ture of these periods.

LITEEATUEE OF THE TEOUBADOUES. Histoire de la Poesie
Provencale, par M. Fauriel, public" par J. Mohl, Membre de 1'Institut de France.
3 vols. 8vo, new, sewed, 14s. (original price £1. 4s.)

A. valuable work, and forms a fit com-
panion to the Literary Histories of Hallam,
Ticknor, and Ginguene.

J. R. Smith is the only Agent in London
for the sale of it, at the above moderate
price.

CUESOEY NOTES on Various Passages in the Text of Beaumont and

Fletcher, as edited by the Rev. Alexander Dyce, and on his "Few Notes on Shakes-
peare." By the Rev. John Mitford. 8vo, pewed, 2s. 6d.

HISTOEICAL SKETCHES of the Angling Literature of all Nations.
By Robert Blakey. To which is added a Bibliographical Catalogue of English Books
on Angling and Ichthyology. 12mo, cloth, 5s.

ESSAYS ON THE LITEEATUEE, Popular Superstitions, and His-

tory of England in the Middle Ages. By Thomas Wright, M.A., F.S.A. 2 vols. postSvo,

elegantly printed, cloth, 16s.

CONTENTS : Essay 1. Anglo-Saxon Poetry

— 2. Anglo-Norman Poetry — 3. Chansons

de Geste, or historical romances of the Mid-

dle Ages — 4. Proverbs and popular sayings

—5. Anglo- Latin poets of the twelfth ceh-

Friar Rush and the frolicsome Elves — 11.
Dunlop's History of Fiction — 12. History
and transmission of popular stories — 13.
Poetry of history — 14. Adventures of Here-

turv — 6. Abelard and the scholastic philo-

ward the Saxon — 15. Story of Eustace the
Monk — 16. History of Fulke Fitzwarine —

WOETHIES OF WESTMORELAND, or Biographies of notable
Persons born in that County since the Reformation. By George Atkinson, Esq.,
Serjeant-at-Law. 2 vola. post 8vo, cloth, 6s. (original price 16s.)

2 _ VALUABLE AND INTERESTING BOOKS.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO LITERATURE, Historical, Antiquarian, and
Metrical. By Mark Antony Lower, M.A., F.S.A., Autlior of "Essays on English
Surnames," " Curiosities of Heraldry," £,c. Post 8vo, woodcuts, cloth, 7s. 6d.
CONTENTS: 1. Local Nomenclature.— 2. South Downs, a Sketch; Historical, Anec-
The Battle of Hastings, an Historical Essay. dotical, and Descriptive.— 7. On Yew Trees
— 3. The Lord Dacre, his mournful end; a in Churchyards. — 8. A Lyttel Geste of a •
Ballad. — 1. Historical and Archaeological Greate Eelc; a pleasaunt* Ballade. — 9. A
Memoir on the Iron Wor^s of the South of Discourse of Genealogy. — 10. An Antiqua-
England, with numerous illustrations. — 5. riaii Pilgrimage in Normandy, with wood-
"Winchelsea's Deliverance, or the Stout Ab- cuts. — 11. Miscellanea, &c. Sec. &c.
bot of Battayle; in Three Fyttes.— 6. The

RETROSPECTIVE EEYIEW (NEW SERIES); consisting of Cri-
ticisms upon, Analysis of, and Extracts from curious, useful, valuable, and scarce Old
Books. 8vo, Vote. I & II (all printed), cloth, 10s. 6d. each.
These two volumes form a good com- spectice,"iul6 vols.; the articles are of the

panion to the old Series of the "Retro- same length and style.

JUNIUS. — The Authorship of the Letters of Junius elucidated, includ-

An exceedingly interesting book, giving and the state of parties during that
many particulars of the American War, period.

BARKER, — Literary Anecdotes and Contemporary Reminiscences of
Professor Porson, and others, from the Manuscript Papers of the late E.H. Barker, Esq.j
of Thetford, Norfolk, with an Original Memoir of the Author. 2 vols. Svo, cloth, 12s.

MILTON'S EARLY READING-, and the prima stamina of his
" Paradise Lost," together with Extracts from a Poet of the XVIth Century (Joshua
Sylvester'). By Charles Dunster, M.A. 12mo, cloth, 2s 6d. (original price 5s.)

HUNTER'S (Rev. J.) Historical and Critical Tracts. Post Svo, 2s.6d. each.

1. Agincourt; a contribution towards an 3. Milton; a sheaf of Gleanings after

authentic List of the Commanders of the his Biographers and Anuotators.
English Host in King Henry the 1'ifth's

Expedition. 4. The Ballad Hero, "Robin Hood,"

£. First Colonists of New England. his period, real character, &c., investi-

(Out of print.) gated, and, perhaps, ascertained.

BRITANNIC RESEARCHES ; or, New Facts and Rectifications of
Ancient British History. By the Rev. Beale Poste: M.A. Svo (pp. 448), with en»
gravings, cloth, 15s.

"The author of this volume may justly Mm. The body of the book is followed by
claim credit for considerable learning, great a very complete index, so as to render re-
industry, and, above all, strong faith in the ference to any part of it easy : this was the
interest and importance of his subject. . . . more necessary, on account of the multi-
On various points he has given us addi- fariousness of the topics treated, the va-
tional information, and afforded us new riety of persons mentioned, and the many
views, for which we are bound to tliauk works quoted." — Athenaum, Oct. 8, 1853.

LAPPENBERG'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, under the Anglo-
Saxon Kings. Translated by Benj. Thorpe, with Additions and Corrections, by the
Author aud Translator, 2 vols. 8vo, cloth, 12s. (original price £1. Is.)

LETTERS OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND.— Now first collected
from the Originals in Royal Archives, and from other Authentic Sources, private as
well as public. Edited, with Historical Introduction and Notes, by J. O. Halliwell.
Two handsome volumes, post Svo, with portraits of Henry VIII and Charles I. Cloth,
8s. (original price £1. Is.)

These volumes form a good companion to Ellis's Original Letters.

G-AIMAR'S (GEOFFREY) Anglo-Norman Metrical Chronicle of the
ANGLO-SAXON KINGS. Printed for the first time entire. "With Appendix, contain-
ing the Lay of Havelok the Dane, the Lesend of Ernulph, and Life of Henvard the
Saxon. Edited by T. Wright, F.S.A. Svo (pp. 354), cloth, 12s.

JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. 3

WAGE (MASTER), HIS CHRONICLE OF THE NORMAN

CONQUEST, from the Roman deRou. Translated into English Prose, with Notes and
Illustrations, by Edgar Taylor, F.SA. 8vo, many engravings from the Bayeux Tapestry,
Norman Architecture, Illuminations, frc. Cloth, 15s. (pub. at £1. 8s.)
Only 250 copies printed, and very lew re- above low price, in consequence of the death
main unsold ; the remaining copies are now of Mr. Pickering ; hitherto no copies have
in J. R. Smith's hands, and are offered at the been sold under the published price.

LIFE, PROGRESSES, AND REBELLION OF JAMES, DUKE

OF MON MOUTH, &c., to his Capture and Execution, with a full account of the
Bloody Assize, and copious Biographical Notices. By George Roberts. 2 vols. post 8vo,
plates and cuts, new, extra cloth, 9s. (original price £1. 4s.)

Two very interesting volumes, particularly so to those connected with the West
of England.

A NEW LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE, including many particulars
respecting the Poet and his Family, never before published. By J. 0. Halliwell,
F.R.S., £,c. In one handsome volume, 8vo, illustrated with 76 engravings on wood,
of objects, most of which are new, from drawings by Fairholt. Cloth, 15*.
This work contains upwards of forty do- light is thrown on his personal history, by
cuments respecting Shakespeare and iiis papers exhibiting him as selling Matt,
family, never before published, besides nu- Stone, &c. Of the seventy-six engravings
merous others 'indirectly illustrating the which illustrate the volume, more than fifty
Poet's biography. All the anecdotes and have never before been engraved.
traditions concerning Shakespeare are here, It is the only Life of Shakespeare to be

for the first time, collected, and much new bought separately from his works.

' SHAKESPERIANA.— A Catalogue of the Early Editions of Shake-
speare's Plays, and of the Commentaries and other Publications illustrative of his
Works. By J.O. Halliwell. 8vo, cloth, 3s.

Indispensable to everybody who wishes Shakespeare, or who may have a fancy for
to carry on any inquiries connected with Shakespearian bibliography. — Spectator.

SHAKESPEARE'S VERSIFICATION and its apparent Irregularities

explained by Examples from early and late English Writers. By the late William
Sidney Walker, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge ; edited by W. Nansou
Lettsom, Esq. Fcp. 8vo, cloth, 6s.

A FEW NOTES ON SHAKESPEARE, with Occasional Remarks
on the Emendations of the Manuscript-Corrector in Mr. Collier's copy of the folio,
1632. By the Rev. Alexander Dyce. 8vo, cloth, 5s.

" Mr. Dyce's Notes are peculiarly delight- enabled him to enrich them. All that he has
ful, from the stores of illustration with recorded is valuable. We read his little vo-
which his extensive reading not only among lume with pleasure, and close it with re-
our writers, but among those of other coun- gret." — Literary Gazette.
tries, especially of the Italian poets, has

Other Publications illustrative of Shakespeare }s Life and Writings.

Malone's Letter to Dr. Farmer (in WivelVs Historical Account of the

Reply to Ritson), relative to his Edition Monumental Bust of Shakespeare, in the

of Shakespeare, published 1790. 8vo, Chancel of Stratford-on-Avon Church.

sewed, Is. 8vo, 2 plates, Is. 6d.

Ireland's (W. Henry) Authentic Ireland's (W. H.) Vortigern, an

Account of the Shakespearian Manu- Historical Play, represented at l)rury

scripts, &c. (respecting his fabrication of Lane, April 2, 1796, as a supposed newly

them). 8vo, ls.6d. discovered Drama of Slmkrsprare. New

~ <n tT>o Edition, with an orhjlutd Preface. 8vo,

•

cloth, 2s. 6d. (original price 5s. 6d ) For|eries, contaiimfg u:*0 the substance

Comparative Revieio of the Opi- of his " Confessions."

nions of JAMES BOADE,\, in 1795 and Traditionary Anecdotes of ShaJce-

iii 1790, relative to the Shakespeare MSS. speare, collected in Warwickshire in lu'j:?.

^vo ~* 8vo, sewed, Is.

4 VALUABLE AND INTERESTING- BOOKS.

Eoaden (Jas.) on the Sonnets of Shakespeare's Will, copied from
Shakespeare, identifying the person to the Original in the Prerogative Court,
whom they are addressed, and elucidat- preserving the Interlineations and fac-
ing several points in the Poet's history. similes of the three Autographs of the
Svo, Is. 6d. Poet, with a few preliminary Observa-

Madden's(SirF.) Observations on *ions By J. o. Halliwell, F.R.S., &c.

an Autograph of Shakespeare, and the '

Orography of his Name Svo, sewed, la. A Few ^emurJcs on the Emend a-

Criticism applied to Shakespeare. tion" Who smothers her with Painting,"

By C. Badham. Post 8vo, Is. in the Play of Cymbeline, discovered by

Collier's (J. P.) Seasons for a New *Ir" c°u,ie,r; in a greeted Copy of the

Edition of Shakespeare's Works. Svo, Is. g^g ^ ^ ^«peare. By J. 0.

Account of the only known Manu-

script of Shakespeare's Plays, comprising A Feio Words in Reply to Mr.

some important variations and correc- Dyce's "Few Notes on Shakespeare."

tions in the " Merry Wives of Windsor," By the Rev. Joseph Hunter. Svo, Is.
obtained from a Playhouse Copy of that

Play recently discovered. By J. 0. Hal- The Gnmaldi Shakespeare. —

liwell. Svo," Is. Notes and Emendations on the Plays of

Bimbault's " Who was ' Jack Wil- Shakespeare, from a recently discovered
son ' the Singer of Shakespeare's Stage ?'• ^ ComeS "Vvo" ™ ts 1 k '
An attempt to prove the identity of this •Ls(J" tomedian- 8vo> cuts, Is.
person with J ohnWilson, Doctor of Music A humorous squib on the late Shake-
in the University of Oxford, A.D. 1644. speare Emendations.
Svo, Is.

THE PILGRIM FATHERS.— Collections concerning the Church or
Congregation of Protestant Separatists formed at Scrooby, in North Nottinghamshire,
in the time of James I, the Founders of New Plymouth, the Parent Colony of New-
England. By the Rev. Joseph Hunter, F.S A., and an Assistant keeper of her
Majesty's Records. Handsomely printed. Svo, cloth, 8s.

This work contains some very important recently been discovered, through the in-
particulars of these personages, and their defatigable exertions of the Author. Pre-
coimections previously to their leaving fixed to the volume are some beautiful
England and Holland, which were entirely Prefatory Stanzas, by Richard Monckton
unknown to former writers, and have only Milnes, Esq., M.P.

LOVE LETTERS OP MRS. PIOZZI (formerly Mrs. Thrale, the
friend of Dr. Johnson), written when she was Eighty, to the handsome actor, William
Augustus Conway, aged Twenty-seven. Svo, sewed, 2s.

LIFE OF MR. THOMAS GENT, Printer, of York. Written by

himself. Svo, fine portrait, engraved by Aug. Fox. Cloth, 2s. 6d. (original price 9s.)
The Author of this curious, and hitherto was the author as well as printer. The
unpublished, piece of Autobiography is well Book requires no encomium to those who
known by the several works of which he have read Southey's " Doctor."

ENGLAND'S WORTHIES, under whom all the Civil and Bloody
Warres, since Anno 1642 to Anno 1647, are related. By John Vicars, Author of
"England's Parliamentary Chronicle," &c. &c. Royal 12mo. reprinted in the old style
(similar to Lady Willonghby's Uiary), with copies oj the 18 rare portraits after Hollar^
#-c. Half morocco, 5s.

LISTER. — The Autobiography of Joseph Lister (a Nonconformist), of
Bradford, Yorkshire, with a contemporary account of the Defence of Bradford and
Capture of Leeds, by the Parliamentarians, in 1642. Edited by Thos. Wright, F.S.A.
Svo, sewed, 2s.

FORM AN. —The Autobiography and Personal Diary of Dr. Simon
Forman, the celebrated Astrologer, 1552-1602, from unpublished MSS. in theAshmo-
lean Museum, Oxford. Edited by J. 0. Halliwell. Small 4to, sewed, 5s.
Only 150 copies privately printed. It will by the Camden Society, who also printed

. for ma* companion to Dr.Dee's Diary, printed this work but afterwards suppressed it.

JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. 5
LIFE, POETRY, AND LETTERS OF EBENEZER ELLIOTT,

the Corn-Law Rhymer (of Sheffield). Edited by his Son-in-Law, John Watkius
Tost 8vo, cloth (an interesting volume), 3s. (original price 7s. 6d.)

WESLEY. — Narrative of a Remarkable Transaction in the Early Life
of John Wesley. Now first printed, from a MS. in the British Museum. 8vo, sewed, 2s.

A very curious love affair between J. \V. thodists. It is entirely unknown to all
and his housekeeper; it gives a curious in- Wesley's biographers,
sight into the early economy of the Me-

GOUNTER'S (Col., of Racton, Sussex) Account of the Miraeulous
Escape of King Charles II. Now first printed. Post 8vo, Is.

This little tract takes up the narrative where the Royal memoir breaks off.

$?jtl0l0jjs att* ®arlg ^ngltsij ^Literature,

COMPENDIOUS ANGLO-SAXON AND ENGLISH DIC-

\J TIONARY. By the Rev. J. Bosworth, D.D., F.R.S. &c. 8vo, closely printed in
treble columns, 12s.

Large Paper. Royal 8vo (to match the next Article), cloth, £1.

"This is not a mere abridgment of the most practical and valuable in the former
large Dictionary, but almost an entirely expensive edition, with a great accession
new work. In this compendious one will be of new words and matter." — Author's
found, at a very moderate price, all that is Preface.

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH, Germanic, and Scandi-
navian Languages and Nations, with Chronological Specimens of their Languages.
By J. Bosworth, D.D. Royal 8vo, boards, £1.
A new and enlarged edition of what was of the Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, and now

formerly the Preface to the First Edition published separately.

ANGLO-SAXON DELECTUS ; serving as a first Class-Book to the

Language. By the Rev. W. Barnes, B.D., of St. John's College, Cambridge. 12mo,

cloth, 2s. 6d.

"To those who wish to possess a critical by references to Greek, the Latin, French,
knowledge of their own Native English, and other languages. A philosophical spii it
some acquaintance with Anglo-Saxon is in- pervades every part. The Delectus consists
dispensable; and we have never seen an of short pieces, on various subjects, with
introduction better calculated than the pre- extracts from Anglo-Saxon History and the
sent to supply the wants of a beginner in a Saxon Chronicle. There is a good Glossary
short space of time. The declensions and at the end." — Athenteum, Oct. 20, 1849.
conjugations are well stated, and illustrated

GUIDE TO THE ANGLO-SAXON TONGUE : on the Basis of

Professor Rask's Grammar ; to which are added, Reading Lessons, in Verse and Prose,
with Notes, for the use of Learners. By E. J. Vernon, B.A., Oxon. 12mo, cloth, 5s.
" Mr. Vernon has, we think, acted wisely Anglo- Saxon writers, in prose and verse,
in taking Rask for his model; but let no for the practice of the student, who will
one suppose from the title that the book is find great assistance in reading them from
merely a compilation from the work of that the grammatical notes with which they are
philologist. The accidence is abridged from accompanied, and from the glossary winch
llask, with constant revision, correction, follows them. This volume, well studied,
and modification ; but the syntax, a most will enable any one to read with ease the
important portion of the book, is original, generality of Anglo-Saxon writers; and its
and is compiled with great care and skill ; cheapness places it within the reach of
and the latter half of the volume consists of every class. It lias our hearty recommen-
a well-chosen selection of extracts from dation." — Literary Gazette.

6 VALUABLE AND INTERESTING BOOKS.

ANALECTA ANGLO-SAXONICA.— Selections, in Prose and Verse,
from Anglo-Saxon Literature, with an Introductory Ethnological Essay, and Notes,
Critical and Explanatory. By Louis F. Klipsteiu, of the University of Giessen. Two
thick vols. post 8vo, clotli, 12s. (original price 18s.)

INTRODUCTION TO ANGLO-SAXON READING; comprising
JSlfric's Homily on the Birth-day of St. Gregory, with a copious Glossary &c. Bv
L. Langley, F L'.S. 12mo, cloth, 2s. 6d.
^Elfric's Homily is remarkable for beauty forth Augustine's mission to the " Land of

of composition, and interesting, as setting the Angles."

ANGLO-SAXON VERSION OF THE LIFE OF ST. GUTHLAC,

Hermit of Croyland. Printed, for the first time, from a MS. in the Cottoiihm Library,
with a Translation and Notes. By Charles AVycliffe Goodwin, M.A., Fellow of Cathe-
rine Hall, Cambridge, 12mo, cloth; 5s.

ANGLO-SAXON VERSION OF THE HEXAMERON OF ST.

BASIL, and the Anglo-Saxon Remains of St. Basil's Admomtio ad Filium Spiritualem.
Now first printed, from MSS. in the Bodleian Library, with a Translation and Notes.
By the Rev. H. W. Norman. 8vo, Second Edition, enlarged. Sewed, 4s.

ANGLO-SAXON VERSION OF THE STORY OF APOLLONIUS

of Tyre ;— upon which is founded the Play of Pericles, attributed to Shakespeare; —
from a MS., witn a Translation and Glossary. By Benjamin Thorpe. 12rno, cloth,
4s. 6d. (original price 6s.)

ANALECTA ANGLO-SAXONICA.— A Selection, in Prose and Verse,
from Anglo-Saxon Authors, of various ages, with a Glossary. By Benjamin Thorpe,
F.S. A. A New Edition, with corrections and improvements. Post 8vo, cloth, 8s. (original
price 12s.)

POPULAR TREATISES ON SCIENCE, written during the Middle
Ages, in Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and English. Edited by Thomas Wright, M.A.
8vo, cloth, os.

A PHILOLOGICAL GRAMMAR, grounded upon English, and

formed from a comparison of more than Sixty Languages. Being an Introduction to

the Science of Grammars of all Languages, especially English, Latin, and Greek. By

the Rev. W. Barnes, B D., of St. John's College, Carnbrfdge ; Author of " Poems in

the Dorset Dialect," " Anglo- Saxoti Delectus," &c. 8vo (pp. 322), cloth, 9s.

" Mr. Barnes' work is an excellent spe- tice may be traced, and that an attempt

cimen of the manner in which the advanc- may be made to expound a true science of

ing study of Philology may be brought to Grammar. Mr. Barnes has so far grounded

illustrate and enrich a scientific exposi- his Grammar upon English as to make it an

tion of English Grammar." — Edinburgh English Grammar, but he has continually

Guardian. referred to comparative philology, and

" Of the science of Grammar, by indue- sought to render his work illustrative of

tion from the philological facts of many general forms, in conformity with princi-

languages, Mr. Barnes has, in this volume, pies common, more or less, to the language

supplied a concise and comprehensive ma- of all mankind. More than sixty languages

nuai. Grammarians may differ as to the have been compared in the course of pre-

regularity of the principles on which na- paring the volume ; and the general prin-

tions have constructed their forms and ciples laid down will be found useful in the

usages of speech, but it is generally allowed study of various tongues. It is a learned

that some conformity or similarity of prac- and philosophical treatise." — Lit. Gaz.

SKELTON'S (John, Poet Laureate to Henry VIII) Poetical Works :

the Bowge of Court, Colin Clout, Why come ye not to Court ? (his celebrated Satire
on Woisey), Phillip Sparrow, Elinour Runiming, &,c. ; with Notes and Life. By the
Rev. A. l)*yce. 2 vols. 8vo, cloth, 14s. (original mice £1. 12s.)
" The power, the strangeness, the volu- manner, made Skelton one of the most ex-

bility of bis language, the audacity of his traordiuary writers of any age or country."

satire, and the perfect originality of his — Southey.

EARLY HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND. Illus-
trated by an English Poem of the XlVth Century, with Notes. By J. 0. Halliwell.
Post 8vo, Second Edition, with a .facsimile of the original MS. in the British Museum.
Cloth, 2s. 6d.

JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. 7

TORRENT OF PORTUGAL ; an English Metrical Romance. Now

first published, from an unique MS. of the XVth Century, preserved in the Chethum
Library at Manchester. Edited by J. 0 Ilalliwell, &c. Post 8vo, cloth, uniform
with Ritson, li'eber, and E His' s publications. 5s.
" This is a valuable and interesting ad- to the collections of Ritson, Weber, and

dition to our list of early English metrical Ellis." — Literary Gazette.

romances, and an indispensable companion

HARROWING OF HELL ; a Miracle Play, written in the Reign of
Edward II. Now first published, from the Original in the British Museum, with a
Modern Heading, Introduction, and Notes. By J. 0. Halliwell, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A.,
&c. 8vo, sewed, 2s.

NIJG-JS POETICA ; Select Pieces of Old English Popular Poetry,

illustrating the Manners and Arts of the XVth Century. Edited by J. 0. Halliwell.
Post 8vo, only 100 copies printed, cloth, 5s.

ANECDOTA LITERARIA; a Collection of Short Poems in English,
Latin, and French, illustrative of the Literature and History of England in the XHIth
Century ; and more especially of the Condition and Manners of the different Classes
of Society. By T. Wright, M.A., F.S.A., &c. 8vo, cloth, only 250 copies printed, 5s.

RARA MATHEMATICA ; or, a Collection of Treatises on the Mathe-
matics and Subjects connected with them, from ancient inedited MSS. By J. 0.
Halliwell. Bvo, Second Edition, cloth, 3s.

PHILOLOGICAL PROOFS of the Original Unity and Recent Origin

of the Human Race, derived from a Comparison of the Languages of Europe, Asia,
Africa, and America. By A. J. Johnes. 8vo, cloth, 6s. (original price 12s. 6d.)

Printed at the suggestion of Dr. Prichard, to whose works it will be found a
useful Supplement.

^roirincial JBiatets of

T> IB L 10 GRAPHICAL LIST of all the Works which have been pub-
g j lished towards illustrating the Provincial Dialects of England. By John Russell

Smith. Post 8vo, Is

" Very serviceable to such as prosecute .... We very cordially recommend it to
the study of our provincial dialects, or are notice."
collecting works on that curious subject. Metropolitan,

GLOSSARY OF PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL WORDS USED

IN ENGLAND; by F. Grose, F.S.A. : with which is now incorporated the Supple-
ment, by Samuel Pegge, F.S.A. Post 8vo, cloth, 4s. 6d.

Cornwall. — Specimens of Cornish Dorset. — Poems of Rural Life, in
Provincial Dialect, collected and ar- the Dorset Dialect, with a Dissertation
ranged by Uncle Jan Trecnoodle, with and Glossary. By the Rev. Wm. Barnes,
some Introductory Remarks and a Glos- B.D. Second Edition, enlarged and cor-
sary by an Antiquarian Friend ; also a reeled, royal 12mo, cloth, 10s.
Se.ection of Songs and oUier Pieces con-
nected with Cornwall. Post 8vo, with ., A fine poetic feeling is displayed
a curious portrait of Dolly Pentrcath. through the various pieces in llnsvo-
Cloth 4s lume; according to some critics nothing

has appeared equal to it since the time

Cheshire. — Attempt at a Glossary of Burns; the "Gentleman's Ma^n-
of some Words used in Cheshire. By zine" for December, 1841, gave a re-
Roger Wilbraham, F.A.S., &c. 12mo, bds. v'iew of the First Edition some pagea
2s. 6d. (original price 5s.) in length.

8

VALUABLE AXD INTEBESTIffG- BOOKS.

Devonshire. — A Devonshire Dia-
logue, in Four Parts (by Mrs. Palmer,
sister to Sir Joshua Reynolds') with Glos-
sary, by the Rev. J. Phillipps, of Mem-
bury, Devon. 12mo, cloth, 2s. 6d.

Durham. — A Glossary of Words
used in Teesdale, in the County of Dur-
ham. Post 8vo, with a Map of the Dis-
trict. Cloth, 6s.

Essex. — John NoaJces and Mary
Styles : a Poem ; exhibiting some of the
most striking lingual localisms peculiar
to Essex ; with a Glossary. By Charles
Clark, Esq., of Great Totham Hall, Essex.
Post 8vo, cloth, 2s.

Lancashire. -Dialect of South Lan-
cashire, or Tim Bobbin's Tummus and
Meary ; revised and corrected, with his
Rhymes, and an enlarged Glossary of
WoVds aud Phrases, chiefly used by the
Rural Population of the Manufacturing
Districts of South Lancashire. By Samuel
Bamford. 12mo, Second Edition. Cloth,
3s. 6d.

Leicestershire Words, Phrases,
and Proverbs. By A. B. Evans, D.D.,
Head Master of Market-Bosworth Gram-
mar School. 12mo, cloth, 5s.

Northamptonshire. — The Dialect

and Folk- Lore of Northamptonshire : a
Glossary of Northamptonshire Provin-
cialisms, Collection of Fairy Legends,
Popular Superstitions, Ancient Customs,
Proverbs, &c. By Thomas Sternberg.
12mo, cloth, 5s.

Northamptonshire. — Glossary of

Northamptonshire Words and Phrases ;
witli examples of their colloquial use, and
illustrations, fro.n various Authors; to
which are added, the Customs of the
County. By Miss A. E. Baker. 2 vols.
post 8vo, cloth, £1. 4s.

Sussex. — A Glossary of the Pro-
vincialisms of the County of Sussex.
By W. Durrant Cooper, F.b.A. Post bvo,
Second Edition, enlaryed. Cloth, 5s.

Westmoreland and Cumberland. —
Dialogues, Poems, Songs, and Ballads,
by various Writers, in the Westmoreland
and Cumberland Dialects; now first
collected; to which is added, a copious
Glossary of Words peculiar to those Coun-
ties. Post 8vo (pp. 408), cloth, 9s.

All the poetical quotations in " Mr.
and Mrs. Sandboy's Visit to the Great "
Exhibition," are to be found in this
volume.

Wiltshire. — A Glossary of Pro-
vincial Words and Plirases in use in
Wiltshire, showing their Derivation in
numerous instances, from the Language
of the Anglo-Saxons. By John Yonge
Akerman, Esq., F.S.A. 12mo, cloth, 3s.

Wiltshire, fyc. — Spring Tide, or

the Angler and his Friends. By J. Y.

Akerman. 12mo, plates, cloth, 3s". 6d.

These Dialogues incidentally illustrate

the Dialect of the West of England.

Yorkshire. — The Yorkshire Dia-
lect, exemplified in various Dialogues,
Tales, and Songs, applicable to the
County ; with a Glossary. Post 8vo, Is.

A Glossary of Yorkshire Words

and Phrases, collected in Whitby and its
Neighbourhood ; with examples of their
colloquial use and allusions to local Cus-
toms and Traditions. By an Inhabitant.
12mo, cloth, 3s. 6d.

Yorkshire. -The Hallamshire (dis-
trict of Sheffield) Glossary. By the Rev.
Joseph Hunter, author of the History of
" Hailamshire," " South Yorkshire," &c.
Post 8vo, cloth, 4s. (original price 8sO

j''~~^''~^~/\J'_l\/ \J U U\f\J"

A RCHJEOLOG-ICAL INDEX to Remains of Antiquity of the Celtic,
_/\_ Romano-British, and Anglo-Saxon Periods. By John Yonge Akerman, Fellow and
Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries. 8vo, illustrated with numerous engravings,
comprising upwards of fixe hundred objects. Cloth, 15s.

This work, though intended as an intro- The plates, indeed, form the most valuable
duction and a guide^to the study of our early part of the book, both by their number and
antiquities, will, it is hoped, also prove of the judicious selection of -types and exam-
service as a book of reference to the prac- pies which they contain. It is a book

tised Arclueologist.

"One of the first wants of an incipient
Antiquary is the facility of comparison;
and here it is furnished him at one glance.

which we can, on this account, safely and
warmly recommend to all who are interest-
ed in the antiquities of their native land."
—Literary Gazette.

JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. 9

REMAINS OP PAGAN SAXONDOM, principally from Tumuli in

England. Drawn from the Originals. Described and illustrated by John Yonge
Akerman, Fellow and Secretary or the Society of Antiquaries. One handsome volume,
4to, illustrated with 40 COLOURED PLATES, half morocco, £3.

The plates are admirably executed by tion of the Author. It is a work well worthy
Mr. Basire, and coloured under the direc- the notice of the Archseologist.

VESTIGES OF THE ANTIQUITIES OF DERBYSHIRE, and

the Sepulchral Usages of its Inhabitants, from the most Remote Ages to the Reforma-
tion. By Thomas Bateman, Esq., of Yolgrave, Derbyshire. In one handsome volume,
8vo, with numerous woodcuts of Tumuli and their contents, Crosses, Tombs, fy-c. Cloth, 15s.

RELIQUIJ3 ANTIQUE EBORACENSIS, or Relics of Antiquity,
relating to the County of York. By W. Bowman, of Leeds, assisted by several
eminent Antiquaries. 4to, 6 Parts (complete), plates, 15s.

RELIQUIAE ISURIAN^E : the Remains of the Roman Isurium, now

Aldboroiigh, near Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, illustrated and described. By Henry
Ecroyd Smith. Royal 4to, with 3? plates, cloth, £1. 5s.

The most highly illustrated work ever published on a Roman Station in England.

DESCRIPTION OF A ROMAN BUILDING, and other Remains,
discovered at Caerleon, in Monmouthshire. By J. E. Lee. Imperial 8vo, with 20 i».
teresting etchings by the Author. Sewed, 5s.

ARCHAEOLOGIST AND JOURNAL OF ANTIQUARIAN

SCIENCE. Edited by J. 0. Halliwell. 8vo. Nos. I to X. complete, with Index (pp. 420),

with 19 engravings, cloth, reduced from 10s. 6d. to 5s. 6d.

Containing original articles on Architec- graphy, Proceedings of the various Antiqua-
ture, Historical Literature, Round Towers rian Societies, Retrospective Reviews, and
of Ireland, Philology, Bibliography, Topo- Reviews of recent Antiquarian Works, &c.

ULSTER JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY: conducted under the

superintendence of a Committee of Archaeologists at Belfast. Handsomely printed
in 4to, with engravings. Published Quarterly. Annual Subscription, 12s. Nos. 1 to 13
are ready.

ARCH^EOLOGIA CAMBRENSIS.— A Record of the Antiquities,
Historical, Genealogical, Topographical, and Architectural, of Wales and its Marches.
FIRST SEEIES, complete, in 4 vols, 8vo, many plates and woodcuts, cloth, £2. 2s.
Any odd Parts may be had to complete Sets.

SECOND SERIES, 6 vols. 8vo, cloth, £3. 3s.

THIKD SEEIES, Vol. I, cloth, £1. 5s.

TNTRODUCTIONTO THE STUDY OP ANCIENT AND MODERN

[ COINS. By J. Y. Akerman, Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries. Foolscap 8vo,
with numerous wood engravings from the original Coins (an excellent introductory
book), cloth, 6s. 6d.

TRADESMEN'S TOKENS struck in London and its Vicinity, from
1648 to 1671, described from the originals in the British Museum, &c. By J. Y.
Akerman, F.S.A. Bvo, with 8 plates of numerous examples, cloth, los.
Large Paper, in 4to, cloth, £1. Is.
This work comprises a list of nearly three and coffee-house si<rn*t &c. &c. &c., with

thousand Tokens, ami contains occasional an introductory account of the cause8

illustrative topographical and antiquarian which led to the adoption of such a cur-

uotes on persons, places, streets, old tavern rcncy.

16 VALUABLE AND INTERESTING BOOKS.

ANCIENT COINS OF CITIES AND PRINCES, Geographically
Arranged and Described — Hispania, GaLlia, Britannia. By J. Y. Akerman, F.S.A.
8vo, with engravings of many hundred Coins from actual examples. Cloth, 18s.

COINS OF THE ROMANS RELATING TO BRITAIN, Described
and Illustrated. By J. Y. Akerman, F.S.A. Second Edition, greatly enlarged, 8vo,
with plates anil woodcuts, 10s. 6d.

NUMISMATIC ILLUSTRATIONS of the Narrative Portions of the
NEW TESTAMENT. By J. Y. Akerraan. 8vo, numerous woodcuts from the original
Coins in various public and private Collections. Cloth, 5s.

NUMISMATIC CHRONICLE AND JOURNAL OF THE NUMIS-
MATIC SOCIETY. Edited by J. Y. Akerman. Published Quarterly, at 3s. 6d.
per Number.
This is the only repertory of Numismatic ages and countries, by the first Numisma-

intelligence ever published in England. It tists of the day, both English and Foreign.

contains papers on coins and medais, of all Odd parts to complete sets.

LIST OF TOKENS ISSUED BY WILTSHIRE TRADESMEN

in the Seventeenth Century. By J. Y. Akerman. 8vo, plates, sewed, Is. 6d.

LECTURES ON THE COINAGE OF THE GREEKS AND

ROMANS, Delivered in the University of Oxford. By Edward Cardwell, D.D., Prin-
cipal ol' St. Alban's Hail, and Professor of Ancient History. Svo, cloth, 4s. (original
price bs. 6d.)
A very interesting historical volume, and written in a pleasing and popular manner.

HISTORY OF THE CO1KS OF CUNOBEL1NE, and of the
ANCIENT BRITONS. By the Rev. Beale Poste. Svo, with numerous plates and.
woodcuts, cloth (only 40 printed], £1. 8s.

TOURNEY TO BERESFORD HALL, in Derbyshire, the Seat of

if Charles Cotton, Esq., the celebrated Author and Angler. By V»r. Alexander, F.S.A.,

F.L.S., late Keeper of the Prints in the British Museum, Crown 4-to, printed on

tinted paper, tcith a spirited frontispiece, representing Walton and his adopted Son

Cotton in the Fishing-house, and vignette title-page. Cloth, 5s.

Dedicated to the Anglers of Great Britain and the various Walton and Cotton
Clubs. Only 10U printed.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL MINE ; a Magazine, in which will be comprised
the Histoiy of Kent, founded on the basis of Hasted. By A. J. Dunkiu. 8vo.
Parts 1 to 24.. Published Monthly. Is. each.

NOTES ON THE CHURCHES in tlie Counties of KENT, SUSSEX,
and SURREY, mentioned in Domesday Book, and those of more recent Date; with
some Account of the Sepulchral Memorials and other Antiquities. By the Rev. Arthuv
Hussey. Thick H\o,jitie plates. Cloth, 18s.

KENTISH CUSTOMS.— ConsuetudinesKancige. A History of GAYEL-
KIND, and other remarkable Customs, in the County of Kent. By Charles Sandys,
Esq., F.S.A. (Cantianus}. Illustrated with facsimiles; a very handsome volume. Cloth, 15s!

HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF RICHBOROUGH, RECUL-

VER, and LYMNE, in Kent. By C. R. Roach Smith, Esq., F.S.A. Small 4io, with
many engravings on wood and copper, by F. \V. Fairholt. Cloth, £1. Is.
« No antiquarian volume could display a sented— Roach Smith, the ardent explorer ;
trio of names more zealous, successful, and Fairholt, the excellent illustrator; and
intelligent, on the subject of Rornano-Bri- Rolfe, the indefatigable collector."— Lite-
tish remains, than the three here repre- rary Gazette.

JOHN KUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. 11

HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OP DARTFORD, in Kent ; with
incidental Notices of Places in its Neigh bourhood. By J. Duukin. 8vo, IT plates.
Only Imprinted. Cloth, £1. Is.

HISTORY OP THE TOWN OP GRAYESEND, in Kent, and of the

Port of London. By R. P. Cruden, late Mayor of Gravesend. Royal 8vo, 3? fine
plates and woodcuts ; a very handsome volume. Cloth, 10s. (original price £1. 8s.)

ACCOUNT OP THE ROMAN AND OTHER ANTIQUITIES discovered
at Springhead, near Gravesend, Kent. By A. J. Dunkin. 8vo, plates (only 100 printed).
Cloth, 6s. 6d.

HISTORY OP ROMNEY MARSH, in Kent, from the time of the
Romans to 1833; with a Dissertation on the original Site of the Ancient Anderida.
By W. Ilolloway, Esq., author of the " History of Rye." 8vo, with maps and plates.
Cloth, 12s.

CRITICAL DISSERTATION on Professor Willis's "Architectural
History of Canterbury Cathedral." By C. Sandys, of Canterbury. 8vo, 2s. Gd.

HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OP THE TOWN OP LANCASTER.

Compiled from Authentic Sources. By the Rev. Robert Simpson. 8vo, cloth, 8s.

A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OP LIVERPOOL, as it was during
the last Quarter of the Eighteenth Century, 1775—1800. By Richard Brooke, Esq.,
F.8JL A handsome volume. Royal 8vo, with illustrations. Cloth, £1. 5s
In addition to information relative to the have never been previously published, re-
Public Buildings, Statistics and Commerce specting the pursuits, habits, and amuse-
of the Town, the work contains some cu- ments of the inhabitants of Liverpool during
rious and interesting particulars which that period, with views of its public edifices.

NOTICES OP THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OP ISLIP,
Oxon. By J. 0. HaJliwell. 8vo (only 50 printed), sewed, Is.

HISTORY OP B ANBURY, in Oxfordshire; including Copious His-
torical and Antiquarian Notices of the Neighbourhood. By Alfred Beesley. Thick
8vo, 681 closely printed pages, with 60 woodcuts., engraved in the first style of art, by
0. Jewett, of Oxford. 14s. (original price £1. 5s.)

HISTORY o? WITNEY, with Notes of the Neighbouring Parishes
and Hamlets in Oxfordshire. By the Rev. Dr. Giles, formerly Fellow of Christ's
College, Oxford. 8vo, plates. Cloth (only ISO printed), 6s.

HISTORY OP THE PARISH AND TOWN OP BAMPTON, in Oxford-
shire, with the District and Hamlets belonging to it. By the Rev. Dr. Giles. 8vo,
plates. Second Edition. Cloth, 7s. 6d.

SUSSEX GARLAND.— A Collection of Ballads, Sonnets, Tales,

Elegies, Song?, Epitaphs, &c., illustrative of the County of Sussex; with Notices,
Historical, Biographical, and Descriptive. By James Taylor. Post 8vo, engravings.
Cloth, 12s.

HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANCIENT PORT AND

Town of RYE, in Sussex ; compiled from Original Documents. By William, Holloway,
Esq. ' Thick 8vo (only 200 printed), cloth, £1. Is.

HISTORY OP WINCHELSEA, in Sussex. By W. Durrant Cooper,
F.S.A. 8vo, fine plates and woodcuts, 7s. 6d.

CHRONICLE OF BATTEL ABBEY, in Sussex ; originally compiled
in Latin by a Monk of the Establishment, and now first translated, with Notes, and
an Abstract of the subsequent History of the Abbey. By Mark Antony Lower, M.A.
8vo, with illustrations. Cloth, 9s.

HAND-BOOK TO LEWES, in Sussex, Historical and Descriptive;
with Notices of the Recent Discoveries at the Priory. By Mark Antony Lower.
12rao, many engravings. Cloth, Is. 6d.

CHRONICLES OP PEYENSEY, in Sussex. By M. A. Lower. 12mo,

woodcuts, Is.

12 VALUABLE AND INTERESTING BOOKS.

MEMORIALS OF THE TOWN OP SEAFORD, Sussex. By M. A.
Lower. 8vo, plates. Boards, 3s. 6d.

HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OP THE TOWN OP MARL-

BOROUGH, and more generally of the entire Hundred of Selkley in Wiltshire. By
James Waylen, Esq. Thick 8vo, woodcuts. Cloth, 14s.

This volume describes a portion of Wilts not included by Sir R. C. Hoare and
other topographers.

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OP THE CISTERCIAN ABBEY OP

SALLEY.in Craven, Yorkshire, its Foundation and Benefactors, Abbots, Possessions,
Compotus, and Dissolution, and its existing Remains. Edited by J. Harland. Royal
8vo, 12 plates. Cloth, 4s. 6d.

ANNALS AKD LEGENDS OP CALAIS; with Sketches of Emigre
Notabilities, and Memoir of Lady Hamilton. By Robert Bell Calton, author of
" Rambles in Sweden and Gottland," &c. &c. PostSvo, with frontispiece qnd vir/nette.
Cloth, 5s.

A very entertaining volume on a town full of historical associations connected
with England.

, (§cnealosg, antr Surnames,

CURIOSITIES OP HERALDRY; with Illustrations from Old
\J English Writers. By Mark Antony Lower, M.A., author of " Essays on English

Surnames;" with illuminated title-page, and numerous engravings from designs by

the Author. 8vo, cloth, 14s.

PEDIGREES OP THE NOBILITY AND GENTRY OP HERTFORD-
SHIRE. By William Berry, late, and for fifteen years, Registering Clerk in the Col-
lege of Arms, author of the " Encyclopaedia Heraldica," &c. &c. Folio (only 125
printed). £1. 5s. (original price £3. 10s).

GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC HISTORY of the Extinct and
Dormant BARONETCIES of England, Ireland, and Scotland. By J. Burke, Esq.
Medium 8vo. Second Edition. 638 closely printed pages, in double columns, with about
1000 Arms engrared on wood, fine portrait of James I. Cloth, 10s. (original price £1. 8s.)

ENGLISH SURNAMES.— An Essay on Family Nomenclature, His-
torical, Etymological, and Humorous; with several illustrative Appendices. By Mark
Antony Lower, M.A. 2 vols. post 8vo. Third Edition, enlarged, woodcuts. Cloth, 12s.
This new and much improved edition, be- Allusive Arms, and the Roll of Battel
sides a great enlargement of the chapters, Abbey, contain dissertations on Inn Signs
contained in the previous editions, com- and remarks on Christian names; with a
prises seveial that are entirely new, to- copious Index of many thousand names,
ether with notes on Scottish, Irish, and These features render " English Surnames"
Corman surnames. The "Additional Pro- rather a new work than a new edition,
lusious," besides the articles on Rebuses,

INDEX TO THE PEDIGREES AND ARMS contained in the Heralds'
Visitations and other Genealogical Manuscripts in the British Museum. By R. Sims,
of the Manuscript Department. 8vo, closely printed in double columns. Cloth, 15s.
An indispensable work to those engaged ing the different families of the same name

in Genealogical and Topographical pursuits, in any county), as recorded by the Heralds

affording a ready clue to the Pedigrees and in their Visitations between the years 1528

Arms of nearly 40,000 of the Gentry of to 1686.

England, their Residences, &c. (distinguish-

A GRAMMAR OP BRITISH HERALDRY, consisting of "Blazon"
and "Marshalling;" with an Introduction on the Rise and Progress of Symbols and
Ensigns. Ry the Rev. W. Sloaue-Evans, B.A. 8vo, with 26 plates, comprising up-
wards of 400 fgures. Cloth, 5s.

One of the best introductions ever published.

I

JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. 18

A PLEA FOR THE ANTIQUITY OF HERALDRY, with an Attempt
to Expound its Theory and Elucidate its History. By W. Smith Ellis. Esq.. of the
Middle Temple. 8vo, sewed, Is. 6d.

BARONIA ANOLIA CONCENTRATE ; or, a Concentration of all
the Baronies called Baronies in Fee, deriving their Origin from Writ of Summons, and
not from any specific Limited Creation ; showing the Descent and Line of Heirship,
as well as those Families mentioned by Sir William Dugdale, as of those whom that
celebrated Author has omitted to notice : interspersed with Interesting Notices and
Explanatory Remarks. Whereto is added the Proofs of Parliamentary Sitting from
the Reign of Edward I to Queen Anne ; also, a Glossary of Dormant English, Scotch,
and Irish Peerage Titles, with references to presumed existing Heirs. By Sir T. C. Banks.
2 vols. 4to, cloth, £3. 3s; now offered for 15s.

A book of great research by the well- former works. The second volume, pp. 210-

known author of the " Dormant and Extinct 300, contains an Historical Account of the

Peerage," and other heraldic and historical first settlement of Nova Scotia, and the

works. Those fond of genealogical pursuits foundation of the Order of Nova Scotia

ought to secure a copy while it is so cheap. Baronets, distinguishing those who had

It may be considered a Supplement to his seisin of lands there.

PLAYING- CARDS.— Facts and Speculations on the History of
Playing Cards in Europe. By W. A. Chatto, author of the " History of Wood
Engraving ;" with Illustrations by J. Jackson. 8vo, profusely illustrated with
engravings, both plain and coloured. Cloth, £1. Is.

"The inquiry into the origin and signifi- subject. In spite of its faults, it is ex-
cation of Ihe suits and their marks, and the ceedingly amusing ; and the most critical
heraldic, theological, and political emblems reader cannot fail to be entertained by the
pictured from time to time, in their changes, variety of curious outlying learning Mr.
opens a new field of antiquarian interest ; Chatto has somehow contrived to draw into
and the perseverance with which Mr. Chatto the investigations." — Atlas.
has explored it leaves little to be gleaned "Indeed the entire production deserves
by his successors. The plates with which our warmest approbation." — Lit. Gaz.
the volume is enriched add considerably to " A perfect fund of antiquarian research,
its value in this point of view. It is not to and most interesting even to persons who
be denied that, take it altogether, it con- never play at cards." — Tail's Nag.
tains more matter than has ever before "A curious, entertaining, and really'
been collected in one view upon the same learned book." — Rambler.

HOLBEIN'S DANCE OF DEATH ; with an Historical and Literary
Introduction, by an Antiquary. Square post 8vo, with 53 engravings — being the most
accurate copies ever executed of these Gems of Art — and a frontispiece of an ancient
bedstead at Aix-la-Chapelle, with a Dunce of Death caned on it, engraved by Fairholt.
Cloth, 9s

" The designs are executed with a spirit " Ces 53 planches des Schlotthauer sont

and fidelity quite extraordinary. They are d'une exquise perfection." — Langlois, Essai
indeed most truthful." — Athenaeum. sur les Dances des Morts.

THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER (present Version). Small 8vo,

beautifully printed by Whittiiigham; every page ornamented with woodcut borders,
designed by Hans Holbein and Albert Durer, copied from the celebrated Book of Prayer
called " QUEEN ELIZABETH'S." Antiqiie cloth, 10*. 6d. — Plain morocco, flexible backt
and gilt edges, lls. — Antique morocco, bevelled boards, edt/es gilt and tooled, 16s. 6d.
Containing upwards of 700 pages. The designs represent scenes in Scripture

History, the Virtues and Vices, Dance of Death with all conditions of persons, &c.

&c., illustrated with appropriate mottoes.

MEMOIRS OF PAINTING-, with a Chronological History of the

Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England since the French Revo-
lution. By W. Buchanan. 2 vols. 8vo, boards, 7s. 6d. (original price £1. 6».)

14 VALUABLE AND INTERESTING- BOOKS.

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE OF THE COUNTY OP

ESSEX, from the IsTorman Era to the Sixteenth Century; with Plans, Elevations,
Sections, Details, &c., from a Series of measured Drawings and Architectural and
Chronological Descriptions. By James Hadfield, Architect. Imperial 4to, SO plates,
'leather back, cloth sides, £1. Us. 6d.

HISTOIRE DE L' ARCHITECTURE SACREE du quatrieme au
dixieme siecle dans les anciens eve'ches de Geneve, Lausanne et Sion. Par J. D.
Blavignac, Architecte. One vol. 8vo (pp. 450), and 37 Plates, and a 4to Atlas of 82
plates of Architecture, Sculpture, Frescoes, Reliquaries, $-c. %-c. £2. 10$.

A very remarkable Book, and worth the notice of the Architect, the Archaeologist,
and the Artist.

popular $0ctrg, STaics, atrti Superstitions*

mHE NURSERY RHYMES OP ENGLAND, collected chiefly from
X Oral Tradition. Edited by J.O. Halliwell. The Fifth Edition, enlarged, with nu-

merous Designs, by W. B. Scott, Director of the School of Design, Newcastle-on-Tyne.

12mo, cloth, gilt leaves, 4s. 6d.

POPULAR RHYMES AND NURSERY TALES, with Historical

Elucidations. By J. 0. Halliwell. 12mo, cloth, 4s. 6d.

This very interesting volume on the Tra- Rhymes, Places and Families, Superstition
ditional Literature of England is divided Rhymes, Custom Rhymes, and Nursery
into Nursery Antiquities, Fireside Nursery Songs ; a large number are here printed for
Stories, Game Rhymes, Alphabet Rhymes, the Jirst time. It may be considered a
Riddle Rhymes, Nature Songs, Proverb sequel to the preceding article.

OLD SONGS AND BALLADS.— A Little Book of Songs and Ballads,
gathered from Ancient Music Books, MS. and Printed, by E. F. Rimbault, LL.D.,
F.S.A., &c., elegantly printed in post 8vo, pp.240, half morocco, 6s.
" Dr. Rimbault has been at some pains used to delight the rustics of former

to collect the words of the Songs which times."— Atlas.

BALLAD ROMANCES. By R. H. Home, Esq., Author of « Orion,"

&c. 12mo (pp. 248), cloth, 3s. (original price Cs. 6d.)

Containing the Noble Heart, a Bohemian "Pure fancy of the most abundant and

Lt'gend; the Monk of Swineshead Abbey, picturesque description. Mr. Home should
a ballad Chronicle of the Deatli of King write us more Fairy Ta'es; we know none
John ; the Three Knights of Camelott, a to equal him since the days of Drayton an£
Fairy Tale; the Ballad of Delora, or the Herrick."— Examiner.
Passion of Andrea Como ; Bedd Gelert, a " The opening poem in this volume is a

Welsh Legend; Ben Capstan, a Ballad of fine one; it is entitled the 'Noble Heart,'
the Night Watch; the Elfe of the Wood- and not only in title but in treatment
lands, a Child's Story. well imitates the style of Beaumont and

Fletcher." — Athenaum.

WILTSHIRE TALES, illustrative of the Manners, Customs, and

Dialect of that and adjoining Counties. By John Yonge Akerman. 12mo, cloth, 2s. 6d.

" We will conclude with a simple but the stories as it is interesting as a picture

hearty recommendation of a little book of rustic manners."

which is as humorous for the drolleries of Tallis's Weekly Paper.

MERRY TALES OP THE WISE MEN OP GOTHAM. Edited by

James Orchard Halliwell, Esq., F.S.A. Post 8vo, Is.

SAINT PATRICK'S PURGATORY.— An Essay on the Legends of
Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, current during the Middle Ages. By Thomas Wright,
M.A., F.S.A., &c. Post 8vo, cloth, 6s.

" It must be observed that this is not a over, it embrace? a singular chapter of lite-
mere account of St. Patrick's Purgatory, ravy history, omitted by Warton and all
but a complete history of the legends and former writers with whom we are acquaint-
superstitions relating to the subject, from ed; and we think we may add, that it forms
the earliest times, rescued from old MSS. the best introduction to Dante that has yet
as well as from old printed books. More- been published." — Literary Gazette.

JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON. 15

HANDBOOK TO THE LIBRARY OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM;
containing a brief History of its Formation, and of the various Collections of which
it is composed ; Descriptions of the Catalogues in present use ; Classed Lists of
the Manuscripts, &c.; and a variety of information indispensable for Literary Men;
with some Account of the principal Public Libraries in London. By Richard Sims,
of the Department of Manuscripts, Compiler of the "Index to the Heralds'
Visitations." Small 8vo (pp. 438), with map and plan. Cloth, 5s.
It will be found a very useful work to every literary person or public institution
in all parts of the world.

" A little handbook of the Library has book to the Library of the British Museum,'
been published, which I think will be most which I sincerely hope may have the suc-
useful to the Public." — Lord Seymour's cess which it deserves." — Letter from Tho.

lleply in the House of Commons, July, 1854. Wright, Esq., F.S.A., Author of the 'Biogra-

" 1 am much pleased with your book, and phia Britannica Literaria,' frc.

find in it abundance of information which " Mr. Sims's ' Handbook to the Library

1 wanted." — Letter from Albert Way, Esq., of the British Museum' is a very compre-

f.S.A., Editor of the "Promptorium Par- hensive and instructive volume

vulorum," $~c. I venture to predict for it a wide circula-

"I take this opportunity of telling you tion." — Mr. Bolton Corney, in "Notes and

how much I like your nice little ' Hand- Queries," No. 213.

A MANUAL POB THE GENEALOGIST, TOPOGRAPHER, AN-
TIQUARY, AND LEGAL PROFESSOR; consisting of a Guide to the various Public
Records, Registers, Wills, Printed Books, &c. &c. By Richard Sims, of the British
Museum, Compiler of the " Handbook to the Library of the British Museum,"
" Index to the Pedigrees in the Heralds' Visitations," &c.

A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL CATALOGUE or ENGLISH WRITERS

ON ANGLING AND ICHTHYOLOGY. By John Russell Smith. Post 8vo, sewed, Is. 6d.

B1BLIOTHECA MADRIGALIANA— A Bibliographical Account of

the Musical and Poetical Works published in England during the Sixteenth and

Seventeenth Centuries, under the Titles of Madrigals, Ballets, Ayres, Canzonets, &c.

&c. By Edward F. Rimbault, LL.D., F.S A. 8vo, cloth, 5s.

It records a class of books left unde- furnishes a most valuable Catalogue of

scribed by Ames, Herbert, and Dibdin, and Lyrical Poetry of the age to which it refers.

THE MANUSCRIPT RARITIES OF THE UNIVERSITY OP
CAMBRIDGE. By J. 0. Halliwell, F.R.S. 8vo, boards, 3s. (original price 10s. 6d.)
A companion to Hartshorne's "Book Rarities" of the same University.

SOME ACCOUNT OP THE POPULAR TRACTS, formerly in the
Library of Captain Cox, of Coventry, A. D. 1575. By J. 0. Halliwell. 8vo (only 50
printed}, sewed, Is.

CATALOGUE OP THE CONTENTS OP THE CODEX HOL-
BROOKIANUS. (A Scientific MS.) By Dr. John Holbrook, Master of St. Peter's
College, Cambridge, 1418-1431). By J. 0. Halliwell. 8vo, Is.

ACCOUNT OP THE VERNON MANUSCRIPT. A Yolume of Early
English Poetry, preserved in the Bodleian Library. By J. 0. Halliwell. 8vo (only 50
printed), Is.

BIBLIOTHECA CANTIANA.— A Bibliographical Account of what
has been published on the History, Topography, Antiquities, Customs, and Family
Genealogy of the County of Kent, with Biographical Notes. By John Russell Smith.
In a handsome 8vo volume (pp. 370), with two plates of facsimiles of Autographs of
33 eminent Kentish Writers. 5s. (original price 14s.) — Lavge Paper, 10s. 6d.

BIBLIOMANIA in the Middle Ages ; or, Sketches of Book- worm 8,

Collectors, Bible Students, Scribes, and Illuminators, from the Anglo-Saxon and
?\onnan Periods; with Anecdotes, illustrating the History of the Monastic Libraries
of Great Britain, By F. S. Merry weather. Square 12mo, cloth, 3s.

16 VALUABLE AND INTERESTING- BOOKS.

QPRINa-TIDE; OB, THE ANGLER AND HIS FRIENDS. By

£j Jolm Yonge Akerman. 12mo, plates. Cloth, 3s. 6d.

& tribute to tfje fHcmarg oi SHilliam (£axtnn,
THE GAME OF THE CHESSE.— In small folio, in sheets, £1. 16s.;

or, bound in calf, antique style, £2. 2s.; or, in morocco, with silver clasps $• bosses, £3. 3s.

Frequently as we read of the Works of present age into somewhat greater intimacy
Caxtonand the early English Printers, and with the Father of English Printers.
of their Black Letter Books, very few per- The TYPE HAS BEEN CAREFULLY IMI-

sons have ever had the opportunity of see- TAXED, and the cuts traced, from the copy in
ing any of these productions, and forming a the British Museum. The Paper and Water-
proper estimate of the ingenuity and skill marks have also been made expressly, as
of. those who first practised the " Noble Art near as possible, like the original ; and the
ot' Printing." Book is accompanied by a tew remarks of

a practical nature, which have been sug-

This reproduction of the first work print- gested during the progress of the fount, and
ed by Caxton at Westminster, containing the necessary study and comparison of
23 woodcuts, is intended iu some measure Caxton's Works with those of his contem-
to supply this deficiency, and bring the poraries in Germany, by Mr. V. FIGGINS.

ANTIQUITIES OF SHROPSHIRE. By the Rev. R. W. Eyton,

Rector of Ryton. Royal 8vo, with plates. Vols. I. & II, £1 each.

THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY ELUCIDATED. By the Rev. Dr. John

Collingwood Bruce, Author of the " Roman Wall." 4to, a handsome volume, illustrated
with 17 COLOURED plates, representing the entire Tapestry. Extra boards, £1. Is.

TONSTALL (Cuthbert, 'Bishop of Durham) Sermon preached on Palm
Sunday, 1539, before Henry VIllj reprinted verbatim from the rare Edition by
Barthelet, in 1539. 12mo, Is. 6d.

An exceedingly interesting Sermon, at the commencement of the Reformation;
Strype, in Ms " Memorials," has made large extracts from it.

ARCHERY.— The Science of Archery, showing its Affinity to Heraldry,
and capabilities of Attainment. By A. P. Harrison. 8vo, sewed, Is.

HISTORY OF OREGON AND CALIFORNIA and the other Terri-
tories on the North-West Coast of America, accompanied by a Geographical View and
Map, and a number of Proofs and Illustrations of the History. By Robert Greenhow,
Librarian of the Department of State of the United States. Thick 8vo. Large Map.
Cloth, 6s. (pub. at 16s.)

LITERARY COOKERY; with Reference to Matter attributed to
Coleridge and Shakespeare. In a Letter addressed to the "Athenaeum/' with a
Postscript containing some Remarks upon the refusal of that Journal to print it.
8vo, sewed, Is.

FOUR POEMS FROM "ZION'S FLOWERS;" or, Christian Poems
for Spiritual Edification. By Mr. Zacharie Boyd, Minister in Glasgow. Printed from
his MS. in the Library of the University of Glasgow; with Notes of his Life and
Writings, by Gab. Neil. Small 4to, portrait and facsimile. Cloth, 10s. 6d.
The above forms a portion of the well- diligent perusal. Boyd was a contemporary
known " Zachary Boyd's Bible." A great of Shakespeare, and" a great many phrases
many of his words and phrases are curious in his " Bible " are the same as to be found
and amusing, and the Book would repay a in the great southern Dramatist.

YOYAGrES, Relations, et Memoires originaux pour servir & 1'Histoire
de la Decouverte de 1'Amerique, publics pour la premiere fois en Francais. Par
H. Ternaux-Compans. 20 vols. 8vo, both Series, and complete. Sewed, £3. 10s.
A valuable collection of early Voyages translations of unpublished Spanish MSS.

and Relations on South America; also principally relating to Old and New Mexico.

TUCKEE AND CO., PEIATEES, PEEEY'S PLACE, OXJFOED STEEET.

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