yC-NRLF 
 
 SH 
 
 DESCRIPTIONS OF FJSHING BY 
 
 LO 
 CO 
 
 
 TON, 
 
 
/ ^^^ 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of California. 
 
 Class 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE IN 
 ■ ENGLAND; 
 
 AND 
 
 DESCRIPTIONS OF FISHING BY 
 THE ANCIENTS: 
 
 WITH 
 
 A NOTICE OF SOME BOOKS ON OTHER 
 PISCATORIAL SUBJECTS. 
 
 BY 
 
 OSMUND LAMBERT. 
 
 ** Nor, did he forget his inate pleasure of Angling, 
 which he w^>uld usually call, 'his idle time not idly 
 spent.' "—Walton's Life of Wotton. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, 
 
 CROWN BUILDINGS, FLEET STREET. 
 
 1881. 
 

 CHISWICK PRESS I — C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO- 
 TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, 
 
 kU 
 
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK 
 TO 
 
 MY DEAR WIFE. 
 
 220867 
 
HE following pagQS are chiefly in- 
 tended to present a clear view of 
 our most prominent angling lite- 
 ture. Some space is devoted to descriptions 
 of fishing by Greek and Latin authors, be- 
 cause the works of the two great classical 
 peoples of the past are common to all coun- 
 tries. There will also be found a short 
 account of a few books on other subjects 
 interesting to fishermen, as well as a notice 
 of some bibliographical catalogues of books 
 on fish and fishing. 
 
 1881. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 Introduction, 
 
 Bibliography 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 
 
 page 
 
 I 
 
 Descriptions 
 Authors 
 
 of Fishing by Greek 
 Chapter III. 
 
 and 
 
 Latin 
 
 7 
 
 Angling Literature in England . 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 Text-books of the day, Guides, a Periodical, 
 Newspapers 63 
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 Books on Ichthyology, Fisheries, Pisciculture, 
 and Fishery Laws 74 
 
 Index . . 83 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 INTRODUCTION, BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 |NGLING is one of the most popular 
 of our national sports : all can in- 
 dulge in it to some extent; and 
 those who enjoy a full share of hunting and 
 shooting are often enthusiastic fishermen. 
 There are some anglers who take a pleasure 
 in looking back into the past for an early 
 notice of anything that may relate to their 
 art. Every one is familiar with the various 
 allusions to fishing in the Old and New Tes- 
 taments. But to select from the nations of 
 remote antiquity one people especially re- 
 markable for its numerous attainments, we 
 
 B 
 
ANGLm(^ LITERATURE. 
 
 find^ according to Sir Johp Gardner Wilkin- 
 son's well-known book, that fishing was a 
 favourite pursuit mth„the^Egyptians, that it 
 was neither confined to young persons nor 
 thought unworthy of men of serious habits, 
 and that while it was followed by the poor, 
 it was at the same time an amusement in 
 which the wealthy particularly delighted. 
 There can be no doubt that fishing was in 
 vogue among the ancient Greeks and Ro- 
 mans, though certainly the latter cared more 
 for promoting the success of their celebrated 
 Vivaria than for wandering by lake and stream 
 with rod in hand. Angling literature com- 
 menced when letters began to revive after 
 the Middle Ages. Its far greater popularity 
 in our own country than elsewhere is well 
 established by the analysis given in the pre- 
 face to Mr. Westwood's " Bibliotheca Pis- 
 catoria," where attention is also directed to 
 the large increase of angling works during 
 the present century. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 There are six catalogues of books on fishing 
 which invite some notice. From these may 
 be gathered short particulars of all that has 
 been written concerning the art both in the 
 United Kingdom and in other countries 
 throughout Europe. 
 
 The first, called "A Catalogue of Books on 
 Angling," was prepared by Sir Henry Ellis, 
 for many years principal librarian to the 
 British Museum ; it was published in the se- 
 cond volume (1812) of "The British Biblio- 
 grapher," and some copies were taken off 
 separately : a reprint without acknowledg- 
 ment is to be found in the Supplement (18 13) 
 to Daniel's " Rural Sports." The biographi- 
 cal and bibHographical notes of the author 
 show that he was painstaking, but the list is 
 not a long one, and should have included 
 many more books. 
 
 Next appeared Pickering's "Bibliotheca 
 Piscatoria, a Catalogue of Books upon 
 Angling," which was annexed to " Piscatorial 
 Reminiscences and Gleanings, by an old 
 Angler and Bibliopolist," (1835). It was 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 formed on a copy corrected by Sir Henry 
 Ellis of his catalogue, comprises many more 
 works than its predecessor, and like it con- 
 tains bibliographical notes. 
 
 Dr. Bethune, a scholar, the author of seve- 
 ral works, and the American editor of a well- 
 known edition of "The Complete Angler," 
 prefaced that edition in 1847 with an inte- 
 resting account of books on fishing before 
 Walton, and, by way of appendix, added a 
 ** List of Books on Fish and Fishing." This 
 list, which is founded on Sir Henry Ellis's 
 catalogue as reprinted by Pickering, mentions 
 Greek and Latin authors whose works con- 
 tain descriptions of fishing. Mr. Westwood, 
 in the preface to his catalogue, says that 
 Bethune's is one of the best in principle and 
 most complete in execution. 
 
 Nine years after the appearance of Bethune's 
 list, there was published by Russell Smith, the 
 compiler, "A Bibliographical Catalogue of 
 Books on Angling," which was bound up with 
 Robert Blakey's ** Historical Sketches of the 
 Angling Literature of all Nations," and it was 
 also issued as a distinct work. The author 
 says it is founded on the three lists already 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 named, and adds that he has corrected and 
 greatly augmented them all, omitting many 
 works that treat only incidentally of angling, 
 in place of which, he remarks that he has 
 given for the first time a complete list of 
 English writers on ichthyology. 
 
 Then followed a catalogue that deserves 
 the greatest praise ; it was contributed by Mr. 
 Thomas Westwood, a poet, and the author of 
 "The Chronicle of the Compleat Angler." 
 This list, " A New Bibliotheca Piscatoria ; or 
 General Catalogue of AngUng and Fishing 
 Literature, with Bibliographical Notes and 
 Data," appeared in 1861, and was prepared 
 for the guidance of collectors of angling books. 
 The preface contains some interesting biblio- 
 graphical statistics, which show that the num- 
 ber of our own books on the sport exceeds 
 that of other countries by an overwhelming 
 majority. Several catalogues of private col- 
 lections of angling works sold by collectors, 
 and a number of manuscripts are enumerated. 
 Bibliographical notes frequently occur, and in 
 many cases they are lengthy. The sums 
 realized by sales of the most prized works are 
 also given, a circumstance which enhances 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 the value of this list, already a very scarce 
 book. The specification of the various copies 
 and editions of the " Book of Saint Albans " 
 forms an appendix to the work. A new edi- 
 tion, greatly enlarged, is promised shortly. 
 
 The sixth and last of the catalogues re- 
 ferred to is the " Bibliotheca Icthyologica et 
 Piscatoria," of D. Mulder Bosgoed, published 
 at Harlem, in 1874. This is the most com- 
 prehensive catalogue of its kind that has ever 
 appeared, as it is devoted to every description 
 of literature on fish, fishing, and like subjects. 
 The labour involved in its preparation must 
 have been great indeed, and could only have 
 been persevered in by a most industrious and 
 painstaking compiler. 
 
Chapter II. 
 
 DESCRIPTIONS OF FISHING BY GREEK 
 AND LATIN AUTHORS. 
 
 Prominent and well-known works 
 of ancient Greek and Latin authors 
 contain no didactic treatise on the 
 art of fishing : indeed, they include no book 
 of any kind on angling, and but one complete 
 work treating of fishing. To collect from the 
 classics in question every notice that is taken 
 of the subject, would be an endless task; but 
 the following pages disclose a few examples 
 intended to illustrate in some measure the 
 piscatorial knowledge of the past. That there 
 did exist at one time several treatises by the 
 ancients on fishing, is known from an account 
 left us by Athenaeus, in the twenty- second 
 chapter of the first book of the " Deipnoso- 
 phistae,'' where he mentions a number of 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 authors who wrote poems and prose works 
 professedly on this subject. These composi- 
 tions are, however, all lost. 
 
 Without doubt the greatest work of anti- 
 quity on fishing is the poem in Greek hexa- 
 meters, ^kXiLVTLKa (Halieutica), of Oppian, 
 of whose life very little that is certain has 
 been preserved. There is good reason for 
 supposing that he was born at^CorjouiSy or at 
 Anazarba, in Cilicia, and he is said to have 
 flounshSJ" aSout a. p. i8o . It has been as- 
 serted that he purchased the freedom of his 
 father through the favour his verses met with 
 at the hands of the emperor. The work 
 has frequently been praised, and not with- 
 out reason. The Halieutics of Oppian are 
 contained in five books, the first two treat- 
 ing of the nature of fishes, the remaining 
 three of sea-fishing ;^ and though they do not 
 disclose much belonging to the angler's art, 
 they nevertheless contain passages which leave 
 no doubt that some of the tackle now i ii jgse 
 
 ^ Schneider's edition of Oppian's works, Argent., 
 1776, is a good edition. There is an English trans- 
 lation of the Halieutics by Diaper and Jones, Oxford, 
 1722. 
 
ANCIENT DESCRIPTIONS OF FISHING. 9 
 
 is not quite so modern in point of invention 
 as may be supposed. 
 
 Some noteworthy lines on angling occur in 
 the " Mosella," the most pleasing of the idyls 
 of Ausonius, a Latin poet of the fourth cen- 
 tury A.D., and a native of Burdigala (Bor- 
 deaux)/who not only made for himself a name 
 as a writer of verse, but who also took a lead- 
 ing part in pubKc affairs. He was raised to 
 high state honours, and it may be said that he 
 was one of the men of his day. The " Mosella," 
 as the name implies, is an account of the 
 Moselle, and naturally the poet mentions the 
 fish that inhabit its waters ; but what is more 
 to the present purpose, he draws a picture of 
 a fisherman practising his art with rod and 
 line in the river that forms the theme of these 
 verses. The trout and grayling are both 
 noticed. A description is given of the salm on 
 which is especially interesting, both on ac- 
 count of its being a faithful delineation of the 
 fish, and because it is probably the earliest of 
 any importance. In reading Ausonius's verses, 
 no one can help being struck with the fact 
 that into the Moselle flows the Salme (Sal- 
 mona), from which, perhaps, the salmon is 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 called, unless the fish has given its name to 
 the river. This idyl also contains some lines 
 on the pike, the salmon-trout, and many other 
 kinds of our well-known fishes. But to pass 
 on to what the poet says about angling in the 
 blue waters of the Moselle, the following are 
 his verses at length : — 
 
 ** lUe autem scopulis subjectas pronus in undas, 
 
 Inclinat lentae convexa cacumina virgae, 
 
 Indutos escis jaciens letalibus hamos. 
 
 Quos ignara doli postquam vaga turba natantum 
 
 Rictibus invasit, patul^eque per intima fauces 
 
 Sera occultati senserunt viilnera ferri, 
 
 Dum trepidant, subit indicium : crispoque tremori 
 
 Vibrantis setae nutans consentit harundo. 
 
 Nee mora : & excussam stridenti verbere praedam 
 
 Dextera in obliquum raptat puer excipit ictum 
 
 Spiritus, ut fractis quondam per inane flagellis 
 
 Aura crepat, motoque adsibilat acre ventus. 
 
 Exsultant udae super arida saxa rapinae, 
 
 Luciferique pavent letalia tela diei. 
 
 Quique sub amne suo mansit vigor, acre nostro 
 
 Segnis anhelatis vitam consumit in auris. 
 
 Jam piger invalido vibratur corpore plausus ; 
 
 Torpida supremos patitur jam cauda tremores. 
 
 Nee coeunt rictus : haustas sed hiatibus auras 
 
 Reddit mortiferos exspirans branchia flatus. 
 
 Sic ubi fabriles exercet spiritus ignes, 
 
 Accipit altemo cohibetque foramina ventos 
 
ANCIENT DESCRIPTIONS OF FISHING. ii 
 
 Lanea fagineis alludens parma cavernis. 
 Vidi egomet quosdam leti sub fine trementes 
 Collegisse animas : mox in sublime citatos, 
 Cemua subjectum praeceps dare corpora in amnem, 
 Desperatarum potientes rursus aquarum. 
 Quos impos damni puer in consultus ab alto 
 Impetit, & stolido captat prensare natatu."^ 
 
 Whatever may be the merits of Oppian and 
 Ausonius, yet, as fly-fishing is the highest 
 
 * Or to render them in prose : — ** While the other, 
 stooping over the rocks towards the waters below, 
 lowers the bending top of his limber rod, casting his 
 hooks laden with killing baits. Upon these the vagrant 
 crowd of fishes, unskilled in snares, rush, and their 
 gaping jaws feel too late the wounds inflicted by the 
 hidden steel ; their quivering tells the fisherman of 
 his success, and the wavy rod yields to the quivering 
 tremor of the shaking line; and at once the angler 
 jerks sideways his stricken prey with a whistling sound 
 {i.e. the rapidity of his action in bringing out his line 
 makes the air whistle). The air receives the blow, as 
 when it resounds with the cracking of a whip and the 
 wind hisses from the air in motion. The watery spoils 
 {i.e. caught fish) jump on the dry rocks, and dread 
 the death-dealing beams of the light of day. They 
 that were so full of vigour in their native waters, 
 spiritless gasp out their wasting lives in our air ; now 
 with weakened body they wriggle feebly on the ground 
 — the torpid tail quivers its last ; the jaws do not close, 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 branch of angling, the earliest account we 
 have concerning it deserves particular at- 
 tion. This is to be found in Aelian's work, 
 TTfpi Zwwv IdiorrjToc, or to give its better 
 known Latin title " De Animalium Natura,'* 
 and may be expressed in English as follows : 
 "I have heard of a Macedonian way of 
 catching fish, and it is this : between Beroca 
 and Thessalonica runs a river called the As- 
 tracus, and in it there are fish with spotted 
 (or speckled) skins ; what the natives of the 
 country call them you had better ask the 
 Macedonians. These fish feed on a fly which 
 is peculiar to the country, and which hovers 
 
 but through its gills, dying it gives back in mortal 
 gasps the breath it draws ; as when the wind plays on 
 the fires of a workshop the (opening) mouth of the 
 beech-covered (sided) bellows alternately draws in and 
 expels the blast. Some (fish) I have seen even at the 
 point of death gather up their strength, then spring 
 aloft and fling their curved bodies headlong into the 
 stream below and regain enjoyment of the waters lost 
 to hope ; while after them the fisherman, impatient at 
 his loss, wildly leaps, and by swimming vainly strives 
 to grasp them again." 
 
 The Latin quotation is taken from Tollius's edition 
 of Ausonius, Amsterdam, 1 671, a somewhat rare book, 
 but an edition much recommended. 
 
ANCIENT DESCRIPTIONS OF FISHING. 13 
 
 over the river. It is not like flies found else- 
 where, nor does it resemble a wasp in appear- 
 ance, nor in shape would one justly describe 
 it as a midge or a bee, yet it has something 
 of each of these. In boldness it is like a fly, 
 in size you might call it a bee, it imitates the 
 colour of the wasp, and it hums like a bee. 
 The natives call it the Hippouros. As these 
 flies seek their food over the river, they do not 
 escape the observation of the fish swimming 
 below. When then a fish observes a fly 
 hovering above, it swims quietly up, fearing 
 to agitate the water, lest it should scare away 
 its prey, then coming up by its shadow, it 
 opens its jaws and gulps down the fly, like a 
 wolf carrying off a sheep from the flock, or an 
 eagle a goose from the farmyard ; having done 
 this, it withdraws under the rippHng water. 
 Now though the fishermen know of this, they 
 do not use these flies at all for bait for the 
 fish ; for if a man's hand touch them, they 
 lose their colour, their wings decay, and they 
 become unfit for food for the fish. For this 
 reason they have nothing to do with them, 
 hating them for their bad character ; but they 
 have planned a snare for the fish, and get the 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 better of them by their fisherman's craft. 
 ^ Theyl^ Jasten red (crimson-red) wool round a 
 hook and fit on to the wool two feathers 
 which grow under a cock's wattles, and which 
 in colour are like wax. Their rod is six feet 
 long and the line is of the same length. Then 
 they throw their snare, and the fish attracted 
 and maddened by the colour comes up, think- 
 ing, from the pretty sight, to get a dainty 
 mouthful ; when, however, it opens its jaws, 
 it is caught by the hook and enjoys a bitter 
 repast, a captive." ^ 
 
 Besides this, A^iaa^ History of Animals 
 includes particulars of other modes of fishing 
 by the ancients. It may be observed, in 
 order to fix the date of the work, that the 
 author lived at Rome about the middle of the 
 third century of the Christian era. 
 
 Several halieutical verses are contained 
 in the first volume of the " Poetae Latini 
 Minores."^ The "Mosella" already men- 
 
 ^ Book XV. cap. l. This translation has been made 
 from Schneider's edition of Aelian. There is another 
 good edition by Fr. Jacobs, Jena, 1832. 
 
 * **Ex recensione Wernsdoriiana," edited by Le- 
 maire, Paris, 1824. 
 
ANCIENT DESCRIPTIONS OF FISHING. 15 
 
 tioned appears here, together with another 
 poem by Ausonius on the oyster; and the 
 same volume comprises some fragmentary 
 verses attributed to Ovid. 
 
 It is the " Halieuticon " that is ascribed to 
 this poet, and, although some writers have 
 imputed it to Gratius Faliscus, we have, 
 nevertheless, this commendation of it by 
 Pliny the elder : — " The disposition of fishes 
 which Ovid has mentioned in his work called 
 ' Halieuticon,' appears to me really wonder- 
 ful." ^ Those who hold it to be a genuine 
 work of Ovid, assign its composition to the 
 time of the poet's exile at Tomi (a.d. 9-18). 
 The more we read it the more we may well 
 lament the imperfect condition in which it 
 has come down to us, for what remains is 
 quite sufficient to convince its readers that 
 the author was able to represent his sub- 
 ject in fitting verse. Some are of opinion 
 that it purposes to represent the points of re- 
 semblance in terrestrial and aquatic animals. 
 There may perhaps be better reasons for as- 
 suming that it is intended to draw the often 
 repeated comparison between hunting, fowl- 
 * Book xxxii. cap. 2. 
 
i6 ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 ing, and fishing. We are told how one fish, 
 when it has greedily seized the prey hanging 
 from the fishing-line, deceives the angler, on 
 his raising the rod, by rejecting the hook 
 which it has despoiled of the bait : how an- 
 other, lashed into furious rage, is carried 
 along with its flounderings, following the 
 current by which it is borne, and how it 
 wriggles about its head until the hook falls 
 from the loosened wound. 
 
 " Lupus acri concitus ira, 
 Discursu fertur vario, fluctusque ferentes 
 Prosequitur, quassatque caput, dum vulnere saevus 
 Laxato cadat hamus, et ora patentia linquat." ^ 
 
 But when the poet says — 
 
 ** Noster in arte labor positus, spes omnis in ilia," * 
 
 does he not mean to bestow his greatest praise 
 on the fisherman's craft ? * He recommends 
 his disciples not to go out into the midst of 
 the ocean, or to try the depths of the open 
 sea, but to regulate their cable according to 
 each kind of locality : — 
 
 * "Halieuticon," vol. i., p. 222. Poetae Latini 
 Minores, Lemaire, Paris, 1824. 
 2 lb., p, 226. 
 
ANCIENT DESCRIPTIONS OF FISHING. 17 
 
 ' * Nec tamen in medias pelagi te pergere sedes 
 
 Admoneam, vastique maris tentare profundum. 
 
 Inter utrumque loci melius moderabere finem, 
 
 Aspera num saxis loca sint ; nam talia lentos 
 
 Deposcunt calamos ; at purum retia litus. 
 
 Num mons horentes demittat celsior umbras 
 
 In mare; nam varie quidam fugiuntque petuntque." ' 
 
 In another fragment, in the same book, 
 may be found something to show that when 
 this was composed the maxim against angling 
 in bright weather was even then understood, 
 for the following lines occur in this poem : — 
 
 "At tu, quum vastas terras super aureus it Sol, 
 Plenaque vel tacito vectatur Cynthia caelo, 
 Necquidquam insidias tendas sub nocte silenti : 
 Namque procul fluitantem hamum, vel retia cernunt, 
 Candida nocturnas pellit quum Luna tenebras : 
 Idcirco, ponti subeat dum templa, morare."^ 
 
 It may be interesting to call attention to 
 fable 8 in book xiii. of Ovid's "Metamor- 
 phoses." Here it is related how Glaucus, 
 when he saw some fishes that he had laid on 
 the grass revive again and leap into the water, 
 tried the effect of the grass upon himself, and 
 
 ' lb. p. 226. ' lb. pp. 233, 234. 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 becoming demented, he cast himself into 
 the ocean, and was transformed into a sea- 
 god. 
 
 Th eocritus (b.c. 284), in his twenty-first 
 idyl, which is descriptive of the fisherman's 
 life, gives a colloquy between two fishermen, 
 in which one asks his companion to unriddle 
 his dream. It was that he had caught a gold 
 fish, and thereupon swore to eschew his trade 
 for the future. Having discovered that he 
 had only been dreaming, he is in doubt if he 
 is bound by the oath it seemed he had taken, 
 and his companion endeavours to dispel his 
 scruples. The preface to the dialogue de- 
 scribes the equipment of these fishermen as : — 
 
 " The basket, rush-trap, line, and reedy shaft, 
 Weed-tangled baits, a drag-net with its drops. 
 Hooks, cord, two oars, an old boat fixt on props." ' 
 
 And Asphalion, the dreamer, in recounting 
 his dream, says : — 
 
 " I saw myself upon a rock, where I 
 Sat watching for the fish — so eagerly ! 
 
 ' Davies and Chapman's translation. Bohn, Lon- 
 don, 1853. 
 
ANCIENT DESCRIPTIONS OF FISHING. 19 
 
 And from the reed the tripping bait did shake 
 Till a fat fellow took it — no mistake : 
 
 * * -jf •»(■ * * 
 
 He hugged the hook, and then his blood did flow ; 
 
 His plunges bent my reed like any bow ; 
 
 I stretched both arms, and had a pretty bout, 
 
 To take with hook so weak a- fish so stout. 
 
 I gently warned him of the wound he bore ; 
 
 * Ha ! will you prick me ? You'll be pricked much 
 
 more.' 
 But when he struggled not, I drew him in ; 
 The contest then 1 saw myself did win," ^ 
 
 The " Geoponika " is a well-known ancient 
 work on agriculture. It was compiled from 
 various authors, probably by Cassianus Bassus, 
 though it is usually attributed to the Emperor 
 Constantine VII. (a.d. 911-959). The twen- 
 tieth book is a collection of receipts for manu- 
 facturing all sorts of baits. 
 
 It must not be supposed that Pliny's " Natu- 
 ral History" or the works of the "Scriptores 
 Rei Rusticae " (Cato, Varro, Columella, and 
 Palladius) have been lost sight of. These 
 books, though they comprise the most in- 
 teresting accounts of the great Vivaria of the 
 ancients, contain nothing descriptive of the 
 
 ^ lb. 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE, 
 
 art of angling. Neither has Aristotle's " His- 
 tory of Animals" been forgotten, nor the 
 " Onomasticon " of Julius Pollux, nor Xeno- 
 crates's little work, Wzpl rfjQ uko twv 'Evv^pwv 
 Tpo<l>fjg (De Alimento ex Aquatilibus). The 
 chapter on the comparative craftiness of water 
 and land animals in Plutarch's " Moralia," 
 which recalls the laconic saying : " Show me 
 your tackle and I'll tell you your sport," has 
 also been remembered, as well as the ^^ Fisher- 
 man " by Lucian. 
 
 As already pointed out, allusions to fishing 
 are frequent throughout the classics. Mr. 
 W. C. Green, in his translation of **The 
 Similes of Homer's Iliad," says there are 
 three similes taken from fishing in Homer, 
 all of which he notices, and he says that the 
 following passage refers to line fishing : — 
 
 ** He spake, and storm -foot Iris rose to bear 
 The Father's word. Midway between the isles, 
 Samos and rocky Imbros, down she plunged 
 In the dark sea, and loud the waters roared. 
 Plumb to the bottom sank she, as the lead 
 Which, set in ox-horn pipe that guards the line, 
 Sinks fraught with fated doom to greedy fish." * 
 
 ^ "Similes," cxiix. Longmans, 1877. 
 
ANCIENT DESCRIPTIONS OF FISHING. 21 
 
 A description, and perhaps the happiest by 
 ancient or modern writers, of the grayling 
 (Salmo Thymallus) has been left us by Saint 
 Ambrose, whom Izaac Walton calls " the 
 glorious bishop of Milan." It is to be met 
 with in the second chapter of the fifth book 
 of the " Hexaemeron, or the Six Days Work 
 of the Creation." This book may be called 
 an example of Angling or Fishing Spiritua- 
 lized. Here is the passage alluded to : — 
 
 "Neque te inhonoratum nostra prosecu- 
 tione thymalle dimittam, cui a flore nomen 
 inolevit : seu Ticini te fluminis, seu amoeni 
 Atesis unda nutrierit, flos es. Denique sermo 
 testatior, quod de eo qui gratam redolet sua- 
 vitatem, dictum facete sit: aut piscem olet 
 aut florem ; ita idem pronuntiatus est piscis 
 odor esse qui floris. Quid specie tua gratius? 
 Quid suavitate jucundius? Quid odore fra- 
 grantius ? Quod mella fragrant, hoc tu cor- 
 pore tuo spiras." 
 
 Which may thus be translated : — 
 
 ^* Nor shall I leave thee unhonoured in my 
 discourse, O Thymallus (grayling), whose 
 name is given thee by a flower ; whether the 
 waters of the Ticino produce thee or those of 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 the pleasant Atesis, a flower thou art. In fine 
 the common saying attests it ; for it is plea- 
 santly said of one who gives out an agreeable 
 sweetness : he smells either of fish or flower ; 
 thus the fragrance of the fish is asserted to be 
 the same as that of the flower. What is more 
 pleasing than thy form ? more delightful than 
 thy sweetness ? more fragrant than thy smell ? 
 The fragrance of the honey exhales from thy 
 body." 
 
 In the Greek Anthology, moreover, we 
 have an epitaph on an angler by Leonidas of 
 Tarentum, the following translation of which 
 is given in " Blackwood's Magazine " : — 
 
 *' Parmis, the son of Callignotus, he 
 Who troll'd for fish the margin of the sea, 
 Chief of his craft, whose keen, perceptive search, 
 The kichle, scarus, bait-devouring perch, 
 And such as love the hollow clefts, and those 
 That in the caverns of the deep repose, 
 Could not escape, is dead. 
 
 Parmis had lured 
 A julis from its rocky haunts, secured 
 Between his teeth the slippery pert, when, lo ! 
 It jerk'd into the gidlet of its foe, 
 Who fell beside his lines, and hooks, and rod. 
 And the choked fisher sought his last abode. 
 
ANCIENT DESCRIPTIONS OF FISHING. 23 
 
 His dust lies here. Stranger, this humble grave 
 An angler to a brother angler gave." ^ 
 
 In conclusion, it should be observed, that, 
 in weaving together the materials of which 
 this chapter is composed, it has been con- 
 sidered that by adopting the existing arrange- 
 ment a clearer view would be presented of 
 what has been collected, than could be af- 
 forded if a chronological order were pursued ; 
 and perhaps it should be added that original 
 Greek passages in every instance have been 
 intentionally omitted. 
 
 * Translated by William Hay. ** Blackwood's 
 Magazine," vol. xxxviii., p. 646. 
 
Chapter III. 
 
 ANGLING LITERATURE IN ENGLAND. 
 
 WGLING literature in England com- 
 pared with what has been written in 
 other European countries concern- 
 ing the sport ranks first and foremost on all 
 scores. There cannot be found among 
 European works on angling, any book of 
 earlier date than the first English. publication 
 treating of fishing with a rod and line : ^ no 
 
 * The date of the publication of the second edition 
 of the "Book of Saint Albans," which contains this 
 treatise on anghng, is, as will be presently seeri». i,4q4^^ 
 A claim to priority has been made for a curious little 
 Dutch work ; but this claim has hardly been sub- 
 stantiated. The book is not dated ; the evidence of 
 its having been printed in 1492, before the second 
 edition of the *^Book of St. Albans," is really not 
 conclusive, and the book is nothing more than a col- 
 lection of receipts, and not unlike the "Geoponika" 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE IN ENGLAND. 25 
 
 country can boast of a volume that at all 
 comes up to our famous classic on the gentle 
 art ; and we are the greatest contributors to 
 the Angling Library in point of numbers. 
 
 The order of this chapter, like that of the 
 preceding one, is not entirely chronological. 
 The earliest English book on angling stands 
 first on account of its prime importance in re- 
 gard to date : the greatest work on the sport 
 is next noticed ; and then follows our earliest 
 
 of Cassianus Bassiis or Constantine VII. mentioned 
 in the previous chapter, but the *'Geoponika" is of 
 much earlier date than the Dutch tract. It has been 
 translated into English, and the preface to the twenty- 
 five copies printed for private distribution in 1872 
 bears the initials (A. D.) of Mr. Alfred Denison, the 
 great angling-book collector. Mr. Westwood, in his 
 * * Bibliotheca Piscatoria," mentions one work as be- 
 longing to the fourteenth century, viz., Peter Crescen- 
 tius's treatise on Agriculture, originally written in 
 Latin ; but he only mentions this as containing some- 
 thing appertaining to the Angling Library, and not as 
 including a substantive treatise on the sport. A notice 
 of some interesting angling lore of the fourteenth 
 century is to be found in *' Notes and Queries" (4th, 
 5, II, Nov. 2ist, 1868, p. 482), and the "Angler's 
 Note Book" (No. 5, March 15th, 1880, p. 76) contains 
 some remarks on what is probably the oldest notice of 
 Fishing in the English language. 
 
 [ 
 
26 ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 and perhaps still most pleasing didactic poem 
 on angling. It is believed that most people 
 will take some interest in these three books, 
 and it is hoped that, by limiting, as far as 
 possible, the scope of the present chapter to 
 works of more or less general note, some 
 even who are not anglers will be interested 
 in the other books mentioned. To this end 
 only a few prominent works have been selec- 
 ted. The choice has been confined to one or 
 two early and curious books, a few poetical 
 works, two prose treatises of comparatively 
 modern date, and some articles on the sport 
 in Magazines and Reviews; but it must be 
 remembered that besides these and apart 
 from the text-books of the day, treated of in 
 the next chapter, there are many other very 
 good examples of our angling literature. 
 
 The first printed English book on the art 
 forms part of the second edition of the *' Book 
 of Saint Albans," and is said to have been 
 written early in the fifteenth century. The 
 " Book of Saint Albans " has been the subject 
 of much inquiry. Not only is its authorship 
 a matter of conjecture, but the history of the 
 lady to whom it has been attributed is any- 
 
IN ENGLAND, 27 
 
 thing but clear. Joseph Haslewood, who, in 
 1 8 10, reprinted va facsimile the second edi- 
 tion, has collected, in his preliminary notices, 
 about all that seems to be known of the 
 " Book of Saint Albans." It has been generally 
 considered that Julyans or Juliana Barnes, 
 otherwise Berners, was the author. It is 
 supposed that she was the daughter of Sir 
 James Berners, of Roding-Berners, in the 
 hundred of Dunmow and county of Essex, 
 who was beheaded on Tower Hill during the 
 reign of Richard II. ; that she flourished 
 about 1460, and was prioress of Sop well con- 
 vent in Hertfordshire.^ The first edition was 
 printed by the schoolmaster of St. Albans, at 
 that place, in i486. The treatise on angling 
 is not contained in this edition ; but, as 
 already mentioned, it forms part of the second 
 edition, which was printed at Westminster in 
 1496, not much more than forty years after 
 the date of the Mazarin Bible, the first impor- 
 tant work of John Gutenberg of Mentz, the 
 inventor of printing, and scarcely twenty years 
 after the " Dictes & Sayings of the Philo- 
 sophers," with little doubt the first book 
 ^ See note, p. 31. 
 
28 ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 printed by Caxton on English soil. It was 
 printed by Wynkyn de Worde of Lorraine, 
 one of Caxton's workmen. The question of 
 the authorship of the treatise on angling is too 
 obscure, and involves too long a story to be a 
 fitting subject for the present work : the main 
 point is that this curious but admirable little 
 tract still exists, and it only remains to turn 
 over its pages and give some idea of its con- 
 tents, evidently the result of experience and 
 practice. Its title, if so it can be called, is, 
 ** Here Begynnyth The Treatyse of Fysshynge 
 wyth an Angle." There is a vein of piety 
 running throughout the book, well exempli- 
 fied by the following passages : — 
 
 ** Salamon in his parablys sayth that a good 
 spyryte makyth a flourynge aege, that is a 
 fayre aege and a longe. And syth it is soo : 
 I aske this questyon, whiche ben the meanes 
 and the causes that enduce a man in to a 
 mery spyryte : Truly to my beste dyscrecon 
 it semeth good dysportes and honest gamys 
 in whom a man Joyeth without ony repen- 
 taunce after. Thenne folowyth it y* gode 
 dysportes and honest games ben cause of 
 mannys fayr aege and longe life. And there- 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 fore now woll I chose of foure good disportes 
 and honest gamys, that is to wy te ; of hunt- 
 ynge : hawkynge : fyshynge : and foulynge. 
 The beste to my symple dyscrecon whyche is 
 fysshynge : callyd Anglynge wyth a rodde : 
 and a lyne and an hoke."^ 
 
 Further on some of the advantages that 
 an angler possesses are, even at this early date, 
 described in such happy words as these : — 
 
 *^ And yet atte the leest he hath his holsom 
 walke and mery at his ease : a swete ayre of 
 the swete sauoure of the meede floures : that 
 makyth hym hungry. He hereth the melo- 
 dyous armony of fowles. He seeth the yonge 
 swannes : heerons : duckes : cotes and many 
 other foules wyth theyr brodes ; whyche me 
 semyth better than alle the noyse of houndys : 
 the blastes of hornys and the scrye of foulis 
 that hunters : fawkeners and foulers can make. 
 And yf the angler take fysshe : surely thenne 
 is there noo man merier than he is in his 
 spyryte. 
 
 ** ^ Also who soo woll vse the game of ang- 
 lynge : he must ryse early, whiche thyng is 
 
 ' Pickering's reprint of " The Treatyse of Fysshynge 
 wyth an Angle," p. I. London, 1827. 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 prouffytable to man in this wyse. That is to 
 wyte : moost to the heele of his soule. For 
 it shall cause hym to be holy. And to the 
 heele of his body. For it shall cause him to 
 be hole. Also to the encrease of his goodys. 
 For it shall make hym ryche. As the olde 
 Englysshe prouerbe sayth in this wyse. 
 % Who soo woll ryse erly shall be holy helthy 
 and zely." ^ 
 
 Then are given directions, which are elu- 
 cidated with quaint illustrations, for making 
 various kinds of tackle : we are told how and 
 where to angle, and when to go a-fishing, what 
 fishes may be caught, and the baits where- 
 with good sport may be insured. In conclu- 
 sion, the author says : — 
 
 " H Also ye shall not vse this forsayd crafty 
 dysporte for no covetysenes to thencrea- 
 synge & sparynge of your money oonly, but 
 pryncypally for your solace & to cause the 
 helthe of your body, and specyally of your 
 soule. For whanne ye purpoos to goo on 
 your disportes in fysshyng ye woll not desyre 
 gretly many persones wyth you. Whiche 
 myghte lette you of your game. And thenne 
 1 lb. pp. 5, 6. 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 ye maye serue God deuoutly in sayenge affec- 
 
 tuously youre custumable prayer And 
 
 all those that done after this rule shall haue 
 the blessynge of God & saynt Petyr, whyche 
 he theym grauntethat wyth his precyous blood 
 vs boughte." "^ 
 
 Specification of the various editions of the 
 " Book of Saint Albans " is contained in the 
 preliminary notices to Haslewood's facsimile 
 of 1810, and in the appendix to Westwood's 
 "Bibliotheca Piscatoria." A beautiful fac- 
 simile of " The Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth 
 an Angle/' forming part of the second edition 
 of the " Book of Saint Albans," has lately been 
 issued by Mr. Elliot Stock, who will publish 
 shortly z. facsifjiile of the first edition of the 
 latter work. The coming publication, which 
 is to be uniform with the treatise on "Angling," 
 will comprise what promises to be a very in- 
 teresting introduction by Mr. William Blades.^ 
 
 ^ lb. pp. 39, 40. 
 
 * This has since appeared. Mr. Blades thinks it not 
 improbable that the greater portion of the book on 
 Hunting, forming part of the ' ' Book of Saint Albans," 
 was compiled by one Julyans Barnes, but he discovers 
 nothing to prove who she was. He says there is not 
 
/3/ ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 Our golden age, says Hallam, in his " In- 
 troduction to the Literature of Europe," be- 
 gan " with him who has never since been 
 rivalled in grace, humour, and invention. 
 Walton's ^Complete Angler,' pubUshed in 
 1653," he continues, "seems by the title a 
 strange choice out of all the books of half a 
 century; yet its simplicity, its sweetness, its 
 natural grace, and happy intermixture of 
 graver strains with the precepts of angling, 
 have rendered this book deservedly popular." 
 English literature possesses in Gilbert White's 
 " Natural History of Selborne " another orna- 
 ment which cannot be forgotten in speaking 
 of Walton's ** Discourse on Fishing," but of 
 the two, is not the " Complete Angler " still 
 the greater favourite ? Izaak Walton was born 
 at Stafford, in 1523, and appears to have been 
 a resident in^T^ondon during his twentieth 
 year. After having acquired, in the trade of 
 a linendraper, which he carried on in Lon- 
 don, a competence sufficient for his moderate 
 wants, he retired from business at about fifty ; 
 and living a simple life among many learned 
 
 a shadow of evidence for crediting her with the author- 
 ship of the treatise on Fishing, 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 and accomplished men of his day, he amused 
 himself with literature and his favourite pastime 
 of angling. Those masterpieces, his ** Lives" 
 of Donne, Wotton, Hooker, Herbert, and 
 Sanderson, display the same originality as that 
 which is so conspicuous in the " Complete 
 Angler," and are equally unlike anything else 
 in literature. The great age to which he lived, 
 ninety years, may well be regarded as one of 
 the many happy results of his cal.m and peace- 
 • ful disposition. His biography has nowhere, 
 perEapS; been told in more pleasing terms 
 than in the account of his life by Dr. Zouch, 
 while for accuracy, fulness of details, and the 
 results of modern research, we are indebted 
 to Sir Harris Nicholas, who wrote the me- 
 moirs and notes prefixed to Pickering's famous 
 edition of the " Complete Angler." But the 
 best insight into his true and natural character 
 is to be got in the " Complete Angler" itself, 
 for Walton himself says, in his Epistle to the 
 Reader, that the whole Discourse is a picture 
 of his own disposition. Those who compare 
 this Discourse with the Dialogue on the com- 
 parative cunning of land and water animals 
 in Plutarch's '' Moralia," with " The Treatyse 
 
 D 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 of Fysshynge wyth an Angle," with the *' Book 
 of Agriculture " {Rei rusticae, lihri quatuor^ 
 &c.), by Conrad Heresbach/ ** Councillor to 
 the High and Mighty Prince of Cleves," in 
 the sixteenth century, and with Bishop Mor- 
 ton's "Treatise on the Nature of God," 1599,^ 
 
 ' This book, which is rare, contains a treatise in 
 three parts on Hunting, Hawking, and Fishing. An 
 account of it, by Mr. Westwood, is to be found in 
 No. 8 (30th April, 1880) of '' The Angler's Note-Book 
 and Naturalist^s Record, " a most welcome periodical, 
 which also contains a translation of the part on 
 fishing. 
 
 2 The "Treatise on 
 the Nature of God "opens 
 as follows : — 
 
 " Gent. Well ouer- 
 taken Syr. 
 
 *' Schol. You are wel- 
 come Gentleman. 
 
 "Gent. No great Gen- 
 tleman Sir, but one that 
 wisheth well to all that 
 meane well : I pray you, 
 how farre doo you trauell 
 this way ? 
 
 **Sch. AsfarreasYorke. 
 
 "Gent. I should be 
 glad, if I might haue 
 your company thither. 
 
 The first edition of the 
 " Compleat Angler" be- 
 gins thus : — 
 
 " Piscator. You are 
 wel overtaken Sir; a 
 good morning to you. 
 I have stretch'd my legs 
 up Totnan Hil to over- 
 take you, hoping your 
 businesse may occasion 
 you towards Ware, this 
 fine pleasant fresh May 
 day in the morning. 
 
 "Viator. Sir, I shall 
 almost answer your 
 hopes : for my purpose 
 is to be at Hodsden (three 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 should remember that Walton says in his "Life . 
 of Wotton," when referring to a sentence of 
 which Wotton claimed to be the author : — 
 " And if any one shall object, as I think some 
 have, that Sir Henry Wotton was not the first 
 author of this sentence ] but that this, or a 
 sentence like it, was long before his time ; to 
 him I answer, that Solomon says, nothing can 
 be spoken, that hath not been spoken ; for 
 there is no new thing under the sun." Be- 
 sides Hallam, Dr. Johnson, Sir Walter Scott, 
 Wordsworth, Charles Lamb, and Hazlitt, how 
 many other distinguished writers are there 
 who have paid the highest tribute of praise 
 to the memory of Izaak Walton ! There 
 may be a few and almost unknown authors 
 who have declined to join in this general 
 acclamation : only one, however, has made 
 
 "Sch. And I, if my miles short of that Town) 
 company might stand you I wil not say, before I 
 in any steed : but how- drink ; but before I break 
 soeuer it be, you may my fast : " &c. 
 command it : and by 
 vouchsafing me the bene- 
 fit of your company, make 
 mee much beholden to 
 you," &c. 
 
36 ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 himself especially conspicuous by a display of 
 arrogance which contrasts in a way hardly to 
 be surpassed with the unaffected simplicity of 
 the " Complete Angler." But the spleen, or 
 may it not be called jealousy ? so prominent 
 in the " Northern Memoirs " ^ of this author, 
 
 * ** Northern Memoirs, calculated for the meridian 
 of Scotland ; wherein most or all of the Cities, Cita- 
 dels, Sea-ports, Castles, Forts, Fortresses, Rivers, 
 and Rivulets, are compendiously described. Toge- 
 ther with choice Collections of various Discoveries, 
 Remarkable Observations, Theological Notions, Po- 
 litical Axioms, National Intrigues, Polemick Infe- 
 rences, Contemplations, Speculations, and several 
 curious and industrious Inspections, lineally drawn 
 from Antiquaries and other noted and intelligible 
 Persons of Honour and Eminency. To which is 
 added the Contemplative and Practical Angler, by 
 way of Diversion. With a Narative of that dextrous 
 and mysterious Art experimented in England, and 
 perfected in more remote and solitary Parts of Scot- 
 land. By way of Dialogue. Writ in the Year 1658, 
 but not till now made publick, by Richard Franck, 
 Philanthropus. — Plures necat gula quam gladius. 
 London. Printed for the Author. To be sold by 
 Henry Mortclock, at the Phoenix, in St. Paul's 
 Church -yard, 1 694." 
 
 The book was reprinted, at Edinburgh, in 1 82 1, 
 and the anonymous preface, by Sir Walter Scott, 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Richard Franck, a Cromwellian trooper and 
 Independent, who even calls himself Phil- 
 anthropus, was fully anticipated by Walton ; 
 for, again, in his Epistle to the Reader of 
 the " Complete Angler " he says, in writing his 
 discourse he has made himself a recreation of 
 a recreation, and that it might prove so, and 
 
 was subscribed with the following verse from John 
 Richards's Recommendatory Poem on Franck's Con- 
 templative Angler : — 
 
 *'No Fisher 
 
 But a Weil-Wisher 
 
 To The Game." 
 
 The Editor, after expressing a wish that Walton had 
 made this northern tour instead of Franck, says in hi.s 
 preface : — "Yet we must do our Author the justice 
 to state, that he is as much superior to the excellent 
 patriarch Isaac Walton, in the mystery of fly-fishing, 
 as inferior to him in taste, feeling, and common sense. 
 Franck's contests with salmon are painted to the life, 
 and his directions to the angler are generally given 
 with great judgment." The ** Northern Memoirs" 
 contain an interesting and amusing description of the 
 Burbot. This, says Mr. Westwood, in his " Biblio- 
 theca Piscatoria," is the first description of the Burbot 
 by any English writer on angling. The original edi- 
 tion of the "Northern Memoirs" is very rare, and 
 the reprint is now by no means common. 
 
38 ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 not read dull and tediously, he has mixed, 
 not any scurrility, but some innocent, harm- 
 less mirth, of which he disallows a severe, 
 sour-complexioned man to be a competent 
 judge. The principal features which give 
 the treatise its special charm are, the pleasing 
 quaintness pervading the dialogues of which 
 it is composed, the picturesque descriptions 
 of English scenery by the river-side, and the 
 simplicity and sweetness of character which 
 is impressed on the work. The discourse is 
 led off by Piscator, Venator, and Auceps, 
 each of whom vies with the others in com- 
 mending his sport : then it is left to Piscator 
 and Venator, and the latter having been won 
 over to the pleasures of angling becomes the 
 pupil and disciple of Piscator. But the 
 ^^ Complete Angler " can alone tell its story : 
 it is so well known moreover, and so pro- 
 minent in every library, however small, that 
 the following passage, which has been very 
 frequently noticed on account of its great 
 beauty, will be enough to remind the reader 
 of the pleasure the book has afforded him :— 
 " But the Nightingale, another of my airy 
 creatures, breathes such sweet loud music 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 out of her little instrumental throat, that it 
 might make mankind to think miracles are 
 not ceased. He that at midnight, when the 
 very labourer sleeps securely, should hear, as 
 I have very often, the clear airs, the sweet 
 descants, the natural rising and falling, the 
 doubling and redoubling of her voice, might 
 well be lifted above earth, and say, * Lord, 
 what music hast thou provided for the Saints 
 in Heaven, when thou affordest bad men 
 such music on Earth ! ' " (The First Day, 
 chap, i., Auceps.) 
 
 Before parting with the " Complete An- 
 gler " some notice must be taken of a few of 
 the editions, now upwards of fifty in number, 
 through which it has passed. Glancing at 
 this part of the " Bibliotheca Piscatoria," the 
 eye is at once attracted by the first and 
 original edition of 1653.^ Then passing over 
 the three following editions we come to the 
 standard edition, viz., the fifth and last that 
 appeared in the lifetime of Walton : the 
 second part of this, viz., " Instructions how 
 to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a clear 
 
 ' Mr. Elliot Stock has published a facsimile of this 
 edition. 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 Stream," was contributed by Charles Cotton, 
 the intimate friend and brother-angler of 
 Walton ; and the third part, consisting of 
 *' The Experienced Angler," was the work of 
 Colonel Robert Venables, a rather remark- 
 able soldier, whose book just mentioned 
 called forth from Walton very great eulogium. 
 The fifth edition, when containing these three 
 parts, bears the title of " The Universal An- 
 gler ;" but the reprints of it only contain the 
 treatises of Walton and Cotton. No edition 
 contrasts more with the diminutive 48mo. 
 (1825 and 1826) of Pickering than his mag- 
 nificent imperial 8vo. (1835-6), in two volumes. 
 The "Bibliographical Preface" and "Wal- 
 tonian Library," together with much other in- 
 teresting matter, incorporated with the Ameri- 
 can reprint so ably edited by Dr. Bethune in 
 1847, ^^ve rendered this an especial favourite. 
 Only one more edition can be noticed : Ma- 
 jor's 4th (London, 1844), stands out in high 
 relief: the objectionable Introductory Essay 
 alone need be rejected; for "in other re- 
 spects," says no less an authority than Mr. 
 Westwood, in his "Chronicle of the Com- 
 pleat Angler," " the Volume approaches more 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 nearly to our ideal of an edition consistent in 
 all its parts, than any of its predecessors or 
 successors." The exquisite engravings of Fish, 
 cut on the wood by John and Mason Jack- 
 son, and drawn on the blocks by Alexander 
 Fussell from the originals painted by A. 
 Cooper and W. Smith, have the force and 
 colour of paintings, while the engravings on 
 steel by J. T. Willmore, from paintings by 
 John Absolon, have called forth universal 
 admiration ; but the surpassing loveliness of 
 the vignettes, engraved by the Jacksons from 
 Creswick's drawings of scenery on the banks 
 of the Lea, deserves yet greater praise : sun- 
 shine, the passing cloud, the stillness of a 
 sheltered spot, the motion of the trees just 
 stirred by the softest wind, the rippling stream, 
 which almost bears the sound of flowing water 
 to the ear, and the water-plants bending to 
 the gentle current, are all present in these 
 beautiful woodcuts. The various phases and 
 mutations of Walton's great work have been 
 treated of, in *'The Chronicle of the Com- 
 pleat Angler" (London, 1864), by Mr. West- 
 wood, as no one else could treat of them, 
 unless, to speak in Waltonian language, Izaak 
 
4» ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 were again alive to do it. The concluding pas- 
 sage of this bibliographical record will give 
 some idea of Mr. Westwood's literary attain- 
 ments, and will show how at home he is in 
 writing about a subject with which he is so 
 much in love : — 
 
 " Here our task ends — the ultimate mile- 
 stone on the long road of more than two 
 hundred years being reached at last. Through 
 our window, as we write these closing lines, 
 streams cheerily (and with a shimmer of young 
 leaves and buzzing of insect wings), the May 
 sunshine— that sunshine that, of yore, glad- 
 dened Piscator on his way through the Lea- 
 side meadows to his sport at matin-song, and 
 that broods, we are fain to believe, with a 
 softened radiance now, on his honoured grave 
 in the grey pile of Winchester. Peace be to 
 his ashes ! — for his fame we have no fear ; the 
 bygone centuries have given their consecra- 
 tion to his work, the centuries to come will 
 ratify that consecration anew. How much 
 of good and great the future may have in 
 store for it, it is not our province to predict. 
 Suffice it that looking up to the shelves of our 
 Angling Library, and to the Fifty-three several 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 editions chronicled in these pages, we must 
 say already for the Father of Fishermen, what 
 he were too modest to say for himself could 
 he return amongst us — 
 
 * Si monumentum requiris, 
 
 Circumspice ! ' " 
 
 There appears to be no poetical treatise on 
 the gentle craft of earlier date than Dennys's 
 " Secrets of Angling." Some think that these 
 verses have never been surpassed by those of 
 any other angling poet. Beloe, in his 
 " Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books," 
 says : — " Perhaps there does not exist in the 
 circle of English literature a rarer book than 
 this." It was first printed for Roger Jackson 
 in 1613, under the title, "The Secrets of 
 Angling: Teaching, The Choicest Tools, Baits 
 & Seasons, for the taking of any Fish in 
 Pond or River : practised & familiarly opened 
 in three Books. By J. D. Esquire." What- 
 ever doubts may have existed about the name 
 of the author are now removed by the dis- 
 covery of the entry of the book in the Sta- 
 tioners' Register, wherein John Dennys is 
 named as the author. But who this Dennys 
 certainly was is still unsettled. There was a 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 well-known Gloucestershire family of that 
 name, and there was a member of that family 
 by name John, son of Hugh Dennys by 
 Katherine Trye : he died and was buried at 
 Pucklechurch, in 1609. Roger Jackson, for 
 whom the first edition of 161 3 was printed, 
 says, in his dedicatory letter, that the poem 
 was sent to him to be printed after (and may 
 it not be presumed shortly after?) the death 
 of the author. John Dennys, just mentioned 
 as son of Hugh Dennys, is supposed to be 
 the same person as John Dennys, the author 
 of the '' Secrets of Angling." *^ The Fisher- 
 man's Magazine," and " Notes and Queries,"^ 
 contain much that is interesting about the 
 Dennys pedigree, and the editions of the 
 " Secrets of Angling." There are four edi- 
 
 * Only nineteen numbers of the ** Fisherman's 
 Magazine, " which consists of two volumes, were pub- 
 lished : the first number appeared in April, 1864, the 
 last in October, 1865. See especially Mr. West- 
 wood's letters in the numbers for July and Septem- 
 ber, 1865. See also the following numbers of ** Notes 
 and Queries," 30th November, 1867, 28th December, 
 1867, 31st July, 1869 (this announces the discovery of 
 the date of the third edition, viz. 1 630), and 28th 
 August, 1869. 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 tions. Copies of the first edition are ex- 
 tremely rare, so rare indeed that Mr. Arber 
 in his preface to the reprint of it in the 
 first volume of the " English Garner " (Lon- 
 don, 1877), says only two copies of the first 
 edition are known to exist j one is in the Bod- 
 leian and the other was in the collection of 
 the late Mr. Henry Huth, who lent his copy 
 to Mr. Arber for the purpose of his reprint. 
 The date of the second edition is conjectured 
 to be about 1620, and in this edition the 
 work is described as being augmented with 
 many approved experiments. The editor was 
 William Lauson, whose comments are also 
 reprinted in Mr. Arber's *' EngHsh Garner.'* 
 No one can read Lauson's address to the reader 
 without being struck by the remarks to which 
 this editor has given happy expression. The 
 poem is divided into three books, which treat 
 very fully of everything appertaining to the 
 sport : it is in the first book that '' The An- 
 tiquity of Angling *' is noticed, while some of 
 the verses of the third are devoted to "the 
 twelve virtues and qualities which ought to be 
 in every Angler." Izaak Walton says there 
 can be no doubt " but that Angling is an art, 
 
46 ANGLING LITER A TURE 
 
 and an art worth your learning : the ques- 
 tion is rather whether you be capable of 
 learning it. For angling is somewhat like 
 poetry, men are to be born so." — "Complete 
 Angler," pt. i., cap. i. Dennys was both 
 poet and angler born ; his verses are admired 
 and bespeak a natural love of the art whose 
 praises he so quaintly sings. The treatise 
 on anghng contained in " The Pleasures 
 of Princes ; or. Good Men's Recreations'' 
 (4to., London, 1614, and other editions), is 
 said to have been rendered into prose from 
 Dennys's " Secrets of Angling," and is to be 
 found in Markham's work about to be 
 noticed. 
 
 Geryase.Markham-- (1566 ^-1637) was de- 
 scended from a very ancient and distinguished 
 Nottinghamshire family, whose lineage can be 
 traced to a period anterior to the Norman 
 Conquest. Gervase did his share in adding 
 fame to a famous name. As a soldier he 
 stood prominent in the army of Charles I. ; as 
 a linguist his knowledge was considerable, 
 
 * The exact year of his birth is not known. Dr. 
 Grosart, in his work noticed further on, was the first 
 to announce the death- date. 
 
IN ENGLAND. 47 
 
 since he was familiar with the ancient and 
 three or four modern languages ; but his cul- 
 ture did not end here, for as an author both 
 of prose and poetry he left behind a name 
 that is never likely to be forgotten. His works 
 on husbandry, horsemanship, and sporting — 
 including angling, count among his chief pub- 
 lications. It is his nephew Ralph, son of his 
 sister Gertrude, by Sir Thomas Sadleir, whom 
 Izaak Walton, through Venator, speaks of as 
 the owner of the pack of otter-dogs Venator 
 was to meet upon Amwell-Hill. The Me- 
 morial Introduction, by the Rev. Dr. Grosart, 
 to two of Markham's poems contained in the 
 second volume of Dr. Grosart's " Miscellanies 
 of the Fuller Worthies' Library " (printed for 
 private circulation, 187 1), comprises a most 
 interesting account of Gervase Markham. It 
 is from Dr. Grosart's account that these few 
 particulars have been drawn. The name of 
 Gervase^ Markham is connected with more 
 than one book containing precepts for fisher- 
 men ; of these treatises on angling the most 
 noteworthy is to be found in his " Coun- 
 try Contentments : or, The Husbandman's 
 Recreations," and, according to the sixth edi- 
 
4S ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 tion (1649) of this work, bears the title: — 
 " The whole Art of Angling ; as it was written 
 in a small Treatise in Rime, and now for the 
 better understanding of the Reader, put into 
 Prose, and adorned and inlarged." The trea- 
 tise in "rime" referred to is probably 
 Dennys*s "Secrets of Angling." Some idea 
 of the style of writing contained in Markham*s 
 publication may be gained from the opening 
 passage, which is in these words : — 
 
 " Since Pleasure is a Rapture, or power in 
 this last Age, stolne into the hearts of men, 
 and there lodged up with such a careful! 
 guard and attendance, that nothing is more 
 supreme, or ruleth with greater strength in 
 their affections, and since all are now become 
 the sonnes of Pleasure, and every good is 
 measured by the delight it produceth : what 
 worke unto men can be more thankfull then the 
 Discourse of that pleasure which is most comely, 
 most honest, and giveth the most liberty to Di- 
 vine Meditation? and that without all question 
 is the Art of Angling, which having ever bin 
 most hurtlesly necessary, hath bin the Sport 
 or Recreation of God's Saints, of most holy 
 Fathers, and of many worthy and Reverend 
 
IN ENGLAND. r^l 
 
 Divines, both dead, and at this time breath- 
 ing." 
 
 _-The qualifications necessary for an angler, 
 according to this curious old book, are very 
 numerous. "A skilful angler,'' it is said, 
 " ought to bee a generall scholler, and scene 
 in all the Liberall Sciences, as a Gramarian" 
 he ought ^* to know how either to Write or 
 Disctmrse^ his Art in true and fitting termes, 
 either without affectation or rudenes. He 
 should have sweetness of speech . . . strength 
 of arguments . .* . knowledge in the Sunne, 
 Moone, and Starres . . . Hee should bee a 
 good knower of Countries . . . Hee should 
 have knowledge in proportions of all sorts, 
 whether Circular, Square, or Diametricall . . . 
 He must also have the perfect Art of num- 
 bring . . . Hee should not be unskilfull in 
 Musick, that whensoever either melancholly, 
 heavinesse of his thought, or the perturbations 
 of his owne fancies stirreth up sadnesse in 
 him, hee may remove the same with some 
 godly Hymne or Antheme, of which David 
 gives him ample examples." Expectation, 
 brotherly love, patience, and humility should 
 all find place in his heart. " Then he must be 
 
 E 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 Strong and valient, neither to be amazed with 
 Stormes nor affrighted with Thunder ; " and 
 there are many other qualities mentioned in 
 */ The_Whole ,Art^ of Angling " as being also 
 necessary to the fisherman. 
 "--^*"ThQ!Ms BUrket, anoth early contributor 
 to the Angling Library, professed no acquain- 
 tance with literature, on the contrary, he says 
 in his Epistle to the Reader in the first edition 
 of his book : — " I doe crave pardon for not 
 writing Scholler like : " his little tract, how- 
 ever, is both original and, according to his 
 Dedicatory Epistle in the edition called the 
 second, the result of his " own experience and 
 practise." Barker himself has given us some 
 account of his life : he says in the letter just 
 mentioned, and it should be observed that 
 the so-called second edition of his book was 
 published in 1657, that he was then grown 
 old and that he had been gathering his ex- 
 perience for " threescore yeares," also that he 
 was born and educated at " Brace?neale in the 
 Liberty of Salop, being a Freeman and Bur- 
 gesse of the same City. If any noble or 
 gentle Angler," he continues, "of what de- 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 gree soever he be, have a mind to discourse 
 of any of these wayes and experiments, I live 
 in Henry the yth's Gifts, the next doore to the 
 Gatehouse in Westm. my name is Barker, 
 where I shall be ready, as long as please God, 
 to satisfie them, and maintain my art, during 
 life, which is not like to be long." His calling 
 seems to have been that of a cook, for he says 
 in the body of the second edition of his work : 
 " I have been admitted into the most Am- 
 bassadors kitchins that have come into Eng- 
 land this forty years, and do wait on them 
 still at the Lord Protector's charge, and I am 
 paid duly for it:" moreover, he is very par- 
 ticular in his directions about the cookery of 
 fish. Izaak Walton praises this little work, 
 and owns that he took his directions for fly- 
 fishing from it. The so-called second edition, 
 1657, is styled "Barker's Delight; or, the 
 Art of Angling. Wherein are discovered 
 many rare secrets very necessary to be 
 known by all that delight in that Recrea- 
 tion, both for catching the Fish, and dress- 
 ing thereof." It is hardly necessary to say 
 that " Barker's Delight " is mentioned on 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 account of its originality and quaintness, some 
 idea of which may be got from the following 
 passage : — 
 
 *' Under favour I will complement and put 
 a case to your Honour. I met with a man, 
 and upon our discourse he fell out with me, 
 having a good weapon, but neither stomach 
 nor skil ; I say this man may come home by 
 Weeping cross, I will cause the Clerk to toll 
 his knell. It is the very like case to the 
 Gentleman Angler that goeth to the River for 
 his pleasure : this Angler hath neither judge- 
 ment nor experience, he may come home 
 light laden at his leisure." 
 
 Three editions of the work were pub- 
 lished : the first edition is dated 165 1, an- 
 other 1653, and the so-called second edi- 
 tion, 1657 and 1659, all of which have been 
 reprinted, but both originals and reprints are 
 rare. 
 
 Two or three examples of angling spiri- 
 tualized are given in lists of Angling Books : 
 for instance, there is a book, which is said 
 to be unique, by Samuel Gardiner, for only 
 one copy, which was in the collection of 
 the late Mr. Henry Huth, appears to be 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 known of. An account of it is to be found 
 in Hone's " Year Book/' and Mr. Westwood 
 devotes some space to it in his " Bibliotheca 
 Piscatoria." According to Westwood it is 
 called "A Booke of Angling or Fishing; 
 wherein is showed, by conference with Scrip- 
 tures, the agreement between the Fisherman, 
 Fishes, and Fishing of both Natures, Tem- 
 porall and Spirituall. By Samuel Gardiner, 
 Doctor of Divinitie." Its date is 1606, and 
 it is dedicated to Sir Henrie Gaudie, Sir 
 Miles Corbet, Sir Hammond Le Strange, and 
 Sir Henry Spellman, Knights, "my verie kind 
 friends." Robert Boyle (162 7-1 691), a well- 
 known author, wrote " Occasional Reflections 
 upon Several Subjects," which was first printed 
 in 1665, and there is a reprint of the book 
 by Masson, Oxford, 1848. The fourth sec- 
 tion treats of " Angling improved to Spiritual 
 Uses," and we are told, in the advertisement 
 touching this section, that the author really 
 was a great lover of angling, and frequently 
 diverted himself with the sport. Sir William 
 Waller (i 600-1 669) left behind him a work 
 said to be written in the best style of the 
 period to which it belongs. The title is. 
 
54 ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 " Divine meditations upon several occasions : 
 With a daily Directory/' Meditation 20 is 
 on Fishing. The book, which was not printed 
 until twelve years after Waller's death, was 
 reprinted in 1839, and to this reprint is pre- 
 fixed an account of the author. It is note- 
 worthy that Waller, who was a somewhat 
 distinguished soldier and also an active states- 
 man, evidently took particular delight in his 
 library, as appears in his fifth Meditation, 
 headed " upon the contentment I have in my 
 books and study." 
 
 That class of poetry to which " Piscatory 
 Eclogues" belong, has been the subject of 
 some criticism. Sannazarius, a distinguished 
 Italian poet of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
 centuries, whose " Piscatory Eclogues" in 
 Latin have received much approbation, led 
 the way in this kind of verse. In our own 
 language we have the '* Piscatory Eclogues " 
 of Phineas Fletcher (i 584-1650), who is 
 better known, however, for his " Purple Is- 
 land;" and Moses Browne, to whom the 
 revival of the " Complete Angler " is partly 
 due, he having edited, in 1 750, the first edition 
 pubHshed after Walton's death, and two other 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 editions, also wrote " Eclogues " of the same 
 description. 
 
 Neither Shakespeare, Michael Drayton, 
 Quarles, Bunyan, nor Pope were silent on the 
 art of angling. Thomson (i 700-1 748) must 
 have been fond of the sport, for the following 
 lines in " Spring" could only have been 
 written by a genuine fly -fisher : — 
 
 *' Just in the dubious point — where with the pool 
 Is mixed the trembling stream, or where it boils 
 Around the stone, or from the hollowed 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. " 
 
 Gay (i 688-1 732) was no doubt an angler, 
 and in the concluding lines of the first canto 
 of his " Rural Sports,^' he tells us what kind 
 of fisherman he was. He says : — 
 
 ** I never wander where the bord'ring reeds 
 O'erlook the muddy stream, whose tangling weeds 
 Perplex the fisher ; I, nor chuse to bear 
 The thievish nightly net, nor barbed spear ; 
 Nor drain I ponds the golden carp to take. 
 Nor trowle for pikes, dispeoplers of the lake. 
 Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine, 
 No blood of living insect stain my line ; 
 
56 ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 Let me, less cruel, cast the feather'd hook, 
 With pliant rod athwart the pebbled brook, 
 Silent along the mazy margin stray. 
 And with the fur-wrought fly delude the prey.'' 
 
 The first canto is devoted to angling, but 
 the poet says : — 
 
 ** 'Tis not that rural sports alone invite, 
 
 But all the grateful country breathes delight." 
 
 The following lines, in the same poem, are 
 especial favourites with all fishermen : — 
 
 *' Oft have I seen a skilful angler try 
 
 The various colours of the treach'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 waving forest throw ; 
 
 When if an insect fall (his certain guide), 
 
 He gently takes him from the whirling tide ; 
 
 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 thro' every part, 
 
 That nature seems to live again in art." 
 
 We find in the first volume (1721^) of the 
 
 * This is the fourth edition ; but no doubt the other 
 editions also contain **Piscatio." 
 
IN ENGLAND. $7 
 
 " Musarum Anglicanarum Analecta," some 
 verses called " Piscatio," which are signed 
 Simon Ford, S.T.P., and are dedicated to 
 Archbishop Sheldon who, according to the 
 poem, was in his day an angler. But the stan- 
 dard book of poetry for the fisherman is Mr. 
 Joseph Crawhall's "Collection of Right Merrie 
 Garlands for North Country Anglers." (New- 
 castle-on-Tyne, 1864.) These "Garlands" 
 are the delight of every angler, and the favour 
 with which Mr. Crawhall's book, so nicely 
 got up, has been received, is well deserved. 
 
 Sir Humphrey Davy, during some months 
 of a severe and dangerous illness, whiled away 
 the time by composing his " Salmonia ; or 
 Days of Fly-Fishing" (ist ed., 1828), taking 
 for his model the " Complete Angler " of Izaak 
 Walton ; and the work is accordingly thrown 
 into a series of conversations, an interesting 
 feature of which is the account they contain 
 of the habits of fishes belonging to the genus 
 salmo. Whatever the faults of the book may 
 be, it is pleasanter to commend than to criti- 
 cise ; and it should be remembered that the 
 favourable notice of this work that appeared 
 in the "Quarterly Review" (July and Oc- 
 
S8 ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 tober, 1828), shortly after the publication of 
 the first edition, is attributed to Sir Walter 
 Scott; also that Cuvier wrote in flattering 
 terms of " Salmonia." 
 
 ** Maxims and Hints for an Angler, and 
 Miseries of Fishing," &c., by Richard Penn, 
 a descendant of the founder of Pennsylvania, 
 is a very practical and humorous book, which 
 went through four editions (1833, 1839, 1842, 
 and 1855), and which contains illustrations, 
 contributed by eminent artists, quite in har- 
 mony with the letter-press. The " Postscript " 
 to the " Maxims and Hints," continued after 
 the Miseries, under the title " More Mise- 
 ries," is a most amusing angling story. An 
 idea of this entertaining little work may be 
 formed from the following maxims and mise- 
 ries : — 
 
 "maxim XXVII. 
 
 " If, during your walks by the river-side, 
 you have marked any good fish, it is fair to 
 presume that other persons have marked them 
 also. Suppose the case of two well-known 
 fish, one of them (which I will call A.) lying 
 above a certain bridge, the other (which I will 
 call B.) lying below the bridge. Suppose, 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 further, that you have just caught B., and that 
 some curious and cunning friend should say 
 to you, in a careless way, * Where did you 
 take that fine fish?' a finished fisherman 
 would advise you to tell your inquiring friend 
 that you had taken your fish just above the 
 bridge, describing, as the scene of action, the 
 spot which, in truth, you know to be still 
 occupied by the other fish, A. Your friend 
 would then fish no more for A., supposing 
 that to be the fish which you have caught ; 
 and whilst he innocently resumes his opera- 
 tions below the bridge, where he falsely ima- 
 gines B. still to be, A. is left quietly for you, 
 if you can catch him." 
 
 '^ MISERIE VI. 
 
 " Taking out with you as your aide-de-camp 
 an unsophisticated lad from the neighbouring 
 village, who laughs at you when you miss 
 hooking a fish rising at a fly, and says, with a 
 grin, *You can't vasten 'em as my vather 
 does.' " 
 
 " XXXI. 
 
 " Telling a long story after dinner, tending 
 to show (with full particulars of time and 
 
6o ANGLING LITERATURE 
 
 place) how that, under very difficult circum- 
 stances, and notwithstanding very great skill 
 on your part, your tackle had been that morn- 
 ing broken and carried away by a very large 
 fish ; and then having the identical fly, l(5st 
 by you on that occasion, returned to you by 
 one of your party, who found it in the mouth 
 of a trout, caught by him, about an hour after 
 your disaster, on the very spot so accurately 
 described by you — the said very large fish 
 being, after all, a very small one/^ 
 
 Angling essays have played no small part 
 in Magazines and Reviews. Still fresh in the 
 memory of many are the numerous articles 
 poured forth with remarkable exuberance in 
 **' Blackwood's Magazine," by Christopher 
 North (John Wilson, 1785-1854), '* Christo- 
 pher in his Sporting Jacket," and " Noctes 
 Ambrosianae," containing many an angling 
 episode. The essay by Sir Walter Scott, in 
 the " Quarterly Review " (July and October, 
 1828), on " Salmonia," just now mentioned, 
 is another capital example, there being a 
 freshness, humour, and goodwill about it 
 which must commend it to every reader. 
 Mr. H. R. Francis, one of the writers in the 
 
IN ENGLAND. 
 
 " Cambridge Essays/' produced in that pe- 
 riodical, in 1856, "The Fly-Fisher and his 
 Library," being a review of angling literature. 
 Again, under "Trout and Trout-Fishing," 
 there appeared in the "Quarterly Review'* 
 for October, 1875, another excellent contri- 
 bution, which also treats of angling books. 
 But among all essays on the sport can there 
 be found a better example than one contained 
 in the September number (1858) of "Fraser's 
 Magazine?" The paper referred to is called 
 " Chalk-Stream Studies, by a Minute Philo- 
 sopher " — the minute philosopher being 
 Charles Kingsley. Here it is that we have, 
 perhaps, the best description ever written of 
 sportsman-like fishing, where all is "peaceful, 
 graceful, complete English country life." This 
 chapter could not be brought to a close with 
 a prettier passage than the following, which is 
 one of Kingsley's pictures of English river- 
 scenery : — 
 
 "Let the Londoner have his six weeks 
 every year among crag and heather, and re- 
 turn with lungs expanded and muscles braced 
 to his nine months' prison. The country- 
 man, who needs no such change of air and 
 
62 ANGLING LITERATURE IN ENGLAND. 
 
 scene, will prefer more homelike, though more 
 homely pleasures. Dearer to him than wild 
 cataracts or Alpine glens are the still, hidden 
 streams which Bewick has immortalized in his 
 vignettes, and Creswick in his pictures ; the 
 long glassy shadow, paved with yellow gravel, 
 where he wades up between low walls of fern- 
 fringed rock, between nut, and oak, and 
 alder, to the low bar over which the stream 
 comes swirling and dimpling, as the water- 
 ousel flits piping before him, and the murmur 
 of the ringdove comes soft and sleepy through 
 the wood. There, as he wades, he sees a 
 hundred sights, and hears a hundred tones, 
 which are hidden from the traveller on the 
 dusty highway above. The traveller fancies 
 that he has seen the country. So he has; the 
 outside of it, at least : but the angler only sees 
 the inside. The angler only is brought close 
 face to face with the flower, and bird, and in- 
 sect life of the rich river banks, the only part 
 of the landscape where the hand of man has 
 never interfered, and the only part in general 
 which never feels the drought of summer, 
 * the trees planted by the water-side, whose 
 leaf shall not wither.' '' 
 
Chapter IV. 
 
 TEXT-BOOKS OF THE DAY, GUIDES, 
 A PERIODICAL, NEWSPAPERS. 
 
 I HIS chapter comprises a concise ac- 
 count of the most prominent text- 
 books of the day on angling, and 
 mentions some guides to fishing resorts, an 
 angling periodical, and one or two news- 
 papers, wherein particular attention is paid to 
 the sport. Only a few books are noticed, 
 and very little is said about these, as not every 
 one would care for a copious list or details of 
 text-books. A good treatise teaching every 
 branch of fresh-water fishing is always a popu- 
 lar book. AngUng for salmon, for trout, and 
 pike-fishing are the chief branches of the art ; 
 while sea-fishing fills up many an hour which 
 would be otherwise idly spent, and affords 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 amusement even to the mere sea- side visitor. 
 Guides to fishing stations are often indispen- 
 sable to the angler ; and all that is latest and 
 newest is to be gathered from periodicals and 
 newspapers. The object, then, of the present 
 chapter is to recommend such works as will 
 meet the requirements of most practical 
 fishermen. In making a selection, such works 
 have been chosen as have received general 
 approbation; but it must not be supposed 
 that many other excellent books not men- 
 tioned are left unnoticed for any other reason 
 than a desire to be brief. 
 
 FRESH-WATER FISHING. 
 
 Under the title " A Book on Angling," by 
 Francis Francis, we have a very comprehen- 
 sive treatise on the art of angling in all its 
 branches. Mr. Francis is not only a well- 
 known author, but also a well-known practical 
 fisherman of great experience. No book so 
 well answers the angler's purpose as the one 
 just mentioned, which has already passed 
 through ^^^ editions. Its size — a large, thick 
 octavo — contrasts with that of its predecessor, 
 ** A Hand-book of Angling," by Ephemera 
 
TEXT-BOOKS OF THE DAY. 65 
 
 (Edward Fitzgibbon), of "Bell's Life," the 
 latter being an admirable little book, which 
 also treats generally of the art, and is still in 
 print, though the last edition published in the 
 lifetime of the author, who died in 1857, bears 
 the rather ancient date of 1853.^ Mr. Maij- 
 ley's work, " Notes on Fish and Fishing," is 
 full of useful and practical information, and 
 ought to be in the hands of every fisherman. 
 Mr. Manley is one of our leading authorities 
 on angling literature. Mr. Keene's exhaustive 
 treatise, " The Practical Fisherman," cannot 
 be too highly spoken of. It contains some 
 of the most beautiful drawings of fish ever 
 published. 
 
 It might be supposed that there has ap- 
 peared among us many a text-book intended 
 entirely for the salmon-fisherman, who prac- 
 tises his art throughout the land with rod and 
 line ; yet, strange to say, we can only lay 
 
 ^ Besides writing this and the "Book of the Sal- 
 mon," about to be noticed, Ephemera edited Walton 
 and Cotton's "Complete Angler," in 1853 (London), 
 which edition was reprinted in 1854 and 1859, and 
 contains notes and appendices giving Ephemera's 
 directions for the practice of the sport. 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 claim to one such work. In these days, when 
 almost every month brings with it some new 
 publication on angling, it may be said that 
 the book in question is not of modern date, 
 for it was published so long ago as 1850, since 
 when much has been discovered about the 
 natural history of the salmon, and something 
 new in the art of angling may also have been 
 brought to hght. Unfortunately, -it is more 
 than difficult to obtain a copy of Ephemera's 
 " Book of the Salmon," our only treatise an- 
 swering the description just now given. 
 
 Ephemera — that is, Edward Fitzgibbon — 
 was a most dexterous fisherman. His work is 
 the more valuable as he was chiefly indebted 
 for what he wrote on the nature and culture 
 of the most important of all our fishes to Mr. 
 Andrew Young, a great authority on the 
 natural history of the salmon and the manage- 
 ment of salmon fisheries. The book is divided 
 into two parts, the first part containing the 
 theory, principles, and practice of fly-fishing 
 for salmon, and lists of salmon-flies ; the se- 
 cond a natural history of the fish, a descrip- 
 tion of its habits, and how to breed it artifi- 
 cially. 
 
TEXT-BOOKS OF THE DAY. 67 
 
 The standard book for the fly-fisher who 
 angles for trout and grayling is Ronalds's 
 ** Fly-fisher's Entomology," a work chiefly 
 given up to some account of the natural his- 
 tory of those flies with which anglers have to 
 make it their business to be acquainted, and 
 the faithful representation of such insects. It 
 is most beautifully illustrated with pictures of 
 natural flies painted to the Hfe, and their arti- 
 ficial resemblances in feathers and other ma- 
 terials. No book in the whole of the " Biblio- 
 theca Piscatoria" can be compared to it in 
 these respects : it is a work every fly-fisher 
 should possess ; and the best proof of the 
 esteem in which it is held is, that new edi- 
 tions still continue to appear, though it was 
 first published nearly half a century ago. 
 Another very popular and useful work is the 
 " Practical Angler," by W. C. Stewart, which 
 teaches the art of trout-fishing more particu- 
 larly applied to clear water, the last edition 
 issued under the author's personal correction 
 being the fourth (Edinburgh, 1861), but new 
 editions continue to be produced. Stewart 
 was the great advocate of fishing up stream. 
 
 The class of angling book most wanted is 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 that affording sound instruction in unaffected 
 language, and at the same time made interest- 
 ing by an intermixture of entertaining and 
 appropriate matter. It is this Mr. Cholmon- 
 deley-Pennell has shown such capability for 
 in "The Book of the Pike/' a book in great 
 request before Mr. Pennell so effectually sup- 
 plied the want that existed; for he points out, in 
 his preface, that " excepting two brochures, one 
 of Nobbs, temp, 1682, and another by Salter 
 of 1820, and a modern compilation, entitled, 
 * Olter's Guide to Spinning,' &c., pp. 44, no 
 English book has ever been devoted exclusively 
 to Pike-fishing.^^ Mr. Cholmondeley-Pennell's 
 instructive and interesting work treats of the 
 history of the pike and of pike-fishing, and 
 comprises a chapter on spinning for trout in 
 lakes and rivers. It also contains an appen- 
 dix, giving numerous receipts for cooking 
 pike, and a list of waters in which this fish 
 may be angled for. The first publication 
 appeared in 1865, since when there have 
 been two more editions. 
 
 SEA-FISHING. 
 
 Sea-fishing as a sport is becoming more 
 
SEA-FISHING. 69 
 
 and more popular every day. We have but 
 one or two books dealing with this subject 
 alone. One of them occupies a foremost 
 place in the piscatorial library. The work in 
 question is ** The Sea-Fisherman," by J. C. 
 Wilcocks, who tells us, in his preface to the 
 first edition, that his experience extends over 
 more than a quarter of a century, and that he 
 has availed himself of the knowledge of the 
 professional craftsmen in whose company he 
 has been when afloat on the fishing-grounds 
 of England and Guernsey. The book com- 
 prises an account of the chief methods of 
 hook and line-fishing in the British and other 
 seas. It gives information on nets, boats, and 
 boating, and contains illustrations of tackle 
 and gear of all kinds. The third edition 
 (Longmans, 1875), is the last. " Sea-Fishing 
 as a Sport," is another example ; but Mr. L. 
 J. H. Young, the author, does not pretend to 
 treat the subject so fully as Mr. Wilcocks has. 
 W. B. Lord's neatly written tract, *' Sea Fish, 
 and how to Catch Them," in which even less 
 is attempted than in Mr. Young's little trea- 
 tise, is the more popular work of the two. 
 Even if Hearder's " Catalogue of Sea and 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 River Tackle " is only a trade publication, it 
 is yet deserving of notice, for, in addition to 
 being a useful list, it gives a short account 
 of sea-fishing by these well known practical 
 manufacturers at Plymouth. 
 
 GUIDES. 
 
 There is issued annually from " The Field *' 
 office, *^ The Angler's Diary," which is a gazet- 
 teer of the rivers and lakes of the world. It 
 contains an alphabetical list of the rivers of 
 England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, and 
 shows the railway stations : it also comprises 
 full particulars of the close seasons and an- 
 gling licenses throughout the United King- 
 dom. " The Angler's Diary " supplies an 
 amount of information that especially meets 
 the requirements of all travelling fishermen. 
 But no one who makes an angling tour through 
 Scotland would do so without Mr. Lyall's 
 '^Sportsman's and Tourist's Guide," for this 
 excellent monthly publication gives a full 
 account of the Scotch rivers and lochs, which 
 are also described very clearly on a capital 
 angling map belonging to the book, and pro- 
 
vides all that the fisherman in Scotland can 
 want to know about salmon-fishings, hotels, 
 fishings to be let or sold, railways, railway 
 trains, steamers, and coaches. Another very 
 useful work is " The Rail and the Rod ; or 
 Tourist - Angler's Guide," by Greville F. 
 (Barnes), piscatorial correspondent to " The 
 Field." Six numbers have already appeared, 
 the first three being limited to waters and 
 quarters around London on (i) the Great 
 Eastern Railway, (2) the Great Western, and 
 (3) the South-Western, while the fishing re- 
 sorts treated of in No. 4 are on the South- 
 Eastern Railway, and 5 and 6 are devoted to 
 many of the angling stations on the Great 
 Eastern, London and North -Western, Mid- 
 land, and Great Northern lines. Like Mr. 
 Lyall's work, "The Rail and the Rod" is 
 topographic in a general as well as in an 
 angling sense. Mr. J. P. Wheeldon has done 
 the Thames and Lea fishermen good service 
 in publishing his "Angling Resorts near 
 London" (Trubner and Co., 1878). His 
 descriptions are as faithful as minute, and 
 display a familiar acquaintance with our 
 angling country near the metropolis. 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 A PERIODICAL, NEWSPAPERS. 
 
 There is only one periodical, in the ordinary 
 sense of the word, which has for its main 
 object all that relates to angling. It is to be 
 regretted that the publication of this is not 
 likely to be continued. " The Angler s Note- 
 book and Naturalist's Record,'' the magazine 
 alluded to, is published by Messrs. Satchell, 
 and, as we are told in the introductory num- 
 ber, its " objects are to aiford information, 
 both literary and practical ; to preserve notes 
 and observations of fishermen and naturalists \ 
 to discuss moot points of angling, woodcraft, 
 bird, beast, and insect life ; to collect every 
 fact that bears on natural history and its folk- 
 lore, and on sport, all the world over, but 
 especially in our own islands." Among its 
 contributors are Professor Skeat, William 
 Henderson, Thomas Westwood, Joseph Craw- 
 hall, T. Q. Couch, and J. W. Douglas ; and it 
 contains some illustrations. Let us hope 
 to see the first series followed by an un- 
 broken succession of numbers containing as 
 much angling lore as the first twelve, and 
 written in the same easy and appropriate 
 
A PERIODICAL, NEWSPAPERS. 73 
 
 Style. "The Fishing Gazette" is a weekly 
 newspaper, intended entirely for fishermen. 
 Their best thanks are more than due to the 
 editor, who has well maintained his paper, 
 and now, indeed, firmly established it as a 
 permanent journal.^ Everything concerning 
 fish and fishing is to be found in its columns. 
 With this and " Bell's Life," " The Field," and 
 *' Land and Water," the three principal sport- 
 ing newspapers of the day, no one can be at a 
 loss for information about all that is going on 
 among river, lake, and sea fishermen. 
 
 * See especially No. 222, vol. v., July 23rd, 1881, 
 a capital number for the holidays. 
 
Chapter V. 
 
 BOOKS ON ICHTHYOLOGY, FISHERIES, 
 PISCICULTURE, AND FISHERY LAWS. 
 
 ^VERY fisherman should take some 
 interest in the study of fishes, in 
 our fisheries, pisciculture, and laws ; 
 for which reason a few remarks on one or two 
 books treating of these subjects will not be 
 out of place in a work like the present. 
 
 The greatest living authority on the natural 
 history of fishes is Dr. Giinther, whose re- 
 cent learned publication has removed every 
 difficulty in the way of pointing to a book 
 that will enable its readers to acquire a 
 sound and useful knowledge of ichthyology. 
 The object of the work alluded to, " An In- 
 troduction to the Study of Fishes," ^ as told in 
 the preface, "is to give in a concise form an 
 
 » Published by A. and C. Black, Edinburgh, 1880. 
 
BOOKS ON ICHTHYOLOGY. 
 
 account of the principal facts relating to the 
 structure, classification, and life-history of 
 fishes. It is intended to meet the require- 
 ments of those who are desirous of studying 
 the elements of ichthyology ; to serve as a 
 book of reference to zoologists generally; 
 and, finally, to supply those who, like travel- 
 lers, have frequent opportunities of observing 
 fishes, with a ready means of obtaining infor- 
 mation." Dr. Giinther says that the only 
 publication which has hitherto partly satis- 
 fied such requirements is an article on 
 ** Ichthyology " which appeared some years 
 ago in the '* Encyclopaedia Britannica ;" and, 
 according to Dr. Giinther, " The Study of 
 Fishes" is a book that, for the first time, 
 treats of the geographical distribution of fishes 
 in a general and comprehensive manner. 
 
 Besides Dr. Giinther's work, there are two 
 treatises on British fishes that must not be 
 overlooked, for, without doubt, they are im- 
 portant works on this branch of natural his- 
 tory. YarrelFs well-known treatise ^ is scien- 
 tific as well as replete with entertaining 
 
 » "A History of British Fishes," by W. Yarrell, 
 third edition. Van Voorst, London, 1859. 
 
76 ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 matter, while Couch's four volumes/ illus- 
 trated throughout with coloured plates of the 
 fish described, form a work which every 
 ichthyologist should possess. With the as- 
 sistance of the illustrations contained in 
 '' Couch '^ any of our fishes may be iden- 
 tified at a glance. 
 
 Mr. Lambton Young^s "Sea-fishing as a 
 Sport/' mentioned in the previous chapter, 
 gives an interesting historical sketch of British 
 fisheries : it does not appear, however, that 
 we have any book devoted entirely to the 
 history of these sources of employment \ but 
 " Sea and Salmon Fisheries," ^ part of the 
 series, " British Industries," edited by G. 
 Phillips Bevan, comprises a good popular ac- 
 count of the present condition of our fisheries ; 
 both Mr. Holdsworth, the author of " Sea 
 Fisheries," and Mr. Young, who contributed 
 
 » ** A History of the Fishes of the British Islands," 
 by J. Couch, London, 1860-5 • there is a new edition 
 (Bell and Sons, London, ) on larger paper, but there 
 is no alteration in the text or plates. 
 
 2 **Sea Fisheries," by E. W. H. Holdsworth; 
 ** Salmon Fisheries, " by Archibald Young, Commis- 
 sioner of Scotch Salmon Fisheries. London, Stanford, 
 1877. 
 
BOOKS ON PISCICULTURE. 
 
 " Salmon Fisheries," being authorities on the 
 subjects they handle so well in their work. 
 Under the first heading are described the 
 various modes of sea-fishing and English, 
 Scotch, Manx, and Irish fisheries ; attention 
 is directed to the two great agencies that 
 affect the large supplies of fish-food required 
 in every market throughout the kingdom. 
 Ice secures preservation, the railway, ready 
 and rapid transport. The article " Salmon 
 Fisheries " cannot but meet with approval, as 
 in it are collected together, concisely and in 
 a very readable form, all the leading facts 
 concerning our salmon fisheries. 
 
 Fish-culture has always been attended with 
 success in this country, and is now attracting 
 more and more notice every year. Before 
 quick modes of locomotion were invented, a 
 good stock of freshwater fish was the pride of 
 many a country gentleman. It is needless to 
 say how necessary a ready supply of fresh- 
 water fish was to monasteries and convents 
 in past times. Roger North, in 17 13, pub- 
 lished his " Discourse on Fish and Fish- 
 Ponds," which is the principal English work 
 of early date on fish-culture. The author, 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 who was evidently a practical pisciculturist, 
 evinces, in this book, great interest in his 
 favourite hobby. Not many years since, two 
 works, remarkable for the clearness with which 
 the author has expressed himself, came from 
 the pen of one who has always been re- 
 garded as an authority on the culture of 
 fish. The books referred to are Boccius's 
 treatises on "The Management of Fresh- 
 water Fish " ^ and " Fish in Rivers and 
 Streams." 2 If neither are exhaustive, they 
 both show, from experience gained by this 
 zealous and capable pisciculturist, the utility 
 of cultivating fresh-water fish even though they 
 be of a coarse description. But the best of 
 our modern books on " Fish-Culture," is Mr. 
 Francis's work ^ written under that title ; from 
 
 ^ ** A Treatise on the Management of Fresh-water 
 Fish, with a view to making them a source of Profit 
 to Landed Proprietors," by Gottlieb Boccius. London, 
 Van Voorst, 1841. 
 
 ^ "Fish in Rivers and Streams : a Treatise on the 
 Production and Management of Fibh in Fresh Waters 
 by Artificial Spawning, Breeding, and Rearing : shew- 
 ing also the Cause of the Depletion of all Rivers and 
 Streams," by G. Boccius. Van Voorst, 1848. 
 
 ' Fish- Culture : a Practical Guide to the Modern 
 
BOOKS ON FISHERY LAWS. 
 
 this and " Fish Hatching," ^ by the late Mr. 
 Frank Buckland, whose name alone is suffi- 
 cient recommendation, may be gathered a 
 considerable amount of information relating 
 to the science of pisciculture. 
 
 The law of private and public fisheries in 
 the inland waters of England and Wales, and 
 the Freshwater Fisheries Preservation Act 
 (1878), are explained in a httle volume of 
 modern date written by Mr. Willis Bund, 
 who is learned in fishery law.^ Here may 
 be found as much as most anglers in England 
 and Wales can want to know of the protection 
 the law affords both for the preservation of 
 freshwater fish and to the owners of fisheries 
 and fishery rights. No one can help being 
 struck by the following observations of Mr. 
 
 System of Breeding and Rearing Fish," by Francis 
 Francis. London, Routledge, 1863. 
 
 * Published by Tinsley Brothers, London, 1863. 
 
 ^ "A Handy Book of the Fishery Laws: contain- 
 ing the Law as to Private and PubHc Fisheries in 
 the Inland Waters of England and Wales, and the 
 Freshwater Fisheries Preservation Act, 1878, sys- 
 tematically arranged ; with the Act, Decisions, Notes, 
 and Forms," by George C. Oke, second edition by J. 
 W. Willis Bund. London, Butterworths, 1878. 
 
ANGLING LITERATURE. 
 
 Bund on the limited right of fishery enjoyed 
 by the public in our inland waters : — 
 
 " From what has been said, it will be seen 
 that although a public fishery may and does 
 exist in law, yet it is only in a very few loca- 
 lities that the public have any right of fishing, 
 and that in the majority of instances when 
 persons angle they do so on sufferance, and 
 are in law liable to be proceeded against ; and 
 that even where the public have a right to 
 fish it very often happens that the right is 
 practically useless, as it can only be exercised 
 from a boat, the public having no right on the 
 banks. Every year the quantity of water in 
 which the public are allowed to fish becomes 
 less and less, from the owners withdrawing 
 permission ; and in a few years' time it will 
 probably be the case that the public are con- 
 fined to where they have a legal right. And 
 it will then be seen how very small the extent 
 of real public water is, and how difficult it 
 is for the public to exercise their right over 
 it.'' 
 
 Not every reader would be interested in a 
 review of legal books ; but it may be useful to 
 notice that Mr. Young, in his treatise "Salmon 
 
BOOKS ON FISHER V LA JVS. 
 
 Fisheries," already named, mentions the lead- 
 ing doctrines of the law affecting the salmon 
 fisheries of the United Kingdom, and also 
 gives a summary of the principal statutes in 
 force and regulating these fisheries at the 
 date of the publication of his work. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I'ELIAN, his account of fly-fishing . 12, 14 
 Ambrose, St., his description of 
 
 the Grayling . . . . 21, 22 
 
 *' Angler's Diary " . , . 70 
 
 *' Angler's Note-Book" .... 72 
 
 Angling and its literature, introductory re- 
 marks on . . . . . . . I, 2 
 
 Angling literature in England, its superiority . 24, 25 
 
 Angling spiritualized, examples of. . . 52-54 
 Ausonius, his * ' Mosella " . . . ,9-12 
 
 Barker, Thomas, " Barker's Delight " . . 50-52 
 
 Berners, Juliana . . . . . 27, 31, 32 
 
 Bethune, his list of books on fish and fishing , 4 
 
 Bibhography 3-6 
 
 Boccius, Gottlieb : — 
 
 " Fish in Rivers and Streams " « . yS 
 
 ** Management of Fresh-water Fish" . 78 
 
 **Bookof St. Albans". - . . . . 24-31 
 Bosgoed, D. Mulder, " Bibliotheca Ichthyo- 
 
 logica et Piscatoria " 6 
 
84 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE^ 
 Boyle, Robert, " Occasional Reflections " . 53 
 
 Browne, Moses . . . . . • 54^ 55 
 Buckland, Frank, ''Fish Hatching '^ . . 79 
 
 Bund, J. W. Willis, "Handy Book of the 
 Fishery Laws " . 
 
 Catalogues of books on fishing 
 Cholmondeley-Pennell, see Pennell. 
 " Complete Angler " 
 Couch, J.y ''History of the Fishes of the 
 British Islands " . . , 
 
 Davy, Sir Humphrey, " Salmonia " 
 Dennys, John, " Secrets of Angling " 
 
 79, 80 
 
 3-6 
 
 32-43 
 
 75 
 
 . 57, 58 
 ' 43-46 
 
 Ellis, Sir Henry, his catalogue of books on angling 3 
 
 Ephemera, i.e. E. Fitzgibbon: — 
 
 " Book of the Salmon '*. . . . 65,66 
 " Hand Book of Angling " . . . 64-65 
 
 Fish-culture, works on . 
 Fisheries, British, works on 
 " Fishennan's Magazine '* 
 Fishery laws, books noticed 
 "Fishing Gazette " 
 Fitzgibbon, see Ephemera. 
 Fletcher, Phineas. 
 Francis, Francis : — *^ 
 
 " Book on Angling '^ 
 "Fish-Culture" . 
 
 77-79 
 
 76, 77 
 
 44 
 
 79-81 
 
 54 
 
 64 
 78,79 
 
INDEX, 
 
 H 
 
 Franck, Richard, " Northern Memoirs " 
 Fresh-water Fishing, books of the day * 
 " Fysshynge wyth an Angle " 
 
 Gardiner, Samuel, "Booke of Angling or 
 
 Fishing " . 
 Gay, his verses on angling . "t 
 **Geoponika" ..... 
 Greek and Latin authors, remarks on their 
 
 accounts of fishing .... 
 
 Guides ....... 
 
 Giinther, Dr., " Introduction to the Study of 
 
 Fishes" 
 
 Hearder, his treatise on sea-fishing 
 Heresbach, Conrad .... 
 Holdsworth, E. W. H. , and Archibald Young, 
 
 "Sea and Salmon Fisheries " . 
 Homer, his allusions to fishing 
 
 Ichthyology, works on . . . , 
 
 Keene, J. H., "The Practical Fisherman' 
 
 Latin and Greek authors, remarks on their 
 
 accounts of fishing 
 Leonidas of Tarentum, his epitaph on an 
 
 angler ...... 
 
 Lord, W. B., "Sea Fish and how to Catch 
 
 them" 
 
 36, 37 
 64-6S 
 
 24-31 
 
 52,53 
 
 55, 56 
 
 19 
 
 7-23 
 70-71 
 
 74,75 
 
 69-70 
 34 
 
 20 
 
 74-76 
 65 
 
 7-23 
 
 22, 23 
 
 69 
 
86 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 Magazines and Reviews .... 60-62 
 Manley, J. J., "Notes on Fishing" . . 65 
 Markham, Gervase, "The whole Art of An- 
 gling" 46-50 
 
 Morton, Bishop, his "Treatise on the Nature 
 of God " compared with the ' ' Complete 
 
 Angler" 34 
 
 " Musarum Anglicanarum Analecta," Piscatio 56, 57 
 
 " Newcastle Fishers' Garlands " . . . 57 
 
 Newspapers ....... 72 
 
 North, Roger, "Discourse on Fish and Fish- 
 Ponds" 77, 78 
 
 Oppian 8, 9 
 
 Ovid, his " Halieutica " . . . .15-17 
 
 Fable of Glaucus 17, 18 
 
 Penn, Richard, " Maxims and Hints for an 
 
 Angler," &c 58-60 
 
 Pennell, Cholmondeley, " Book of the Pike" 68 
 
 Pickering, " Bibliotheca Piscatoria " . . 3,4 
 
 Piscatory eclogues 54> 55 
 
 Pisciculture, works on 77"79 
 
 "Rail and Rod" 71 
 
 Reviews and Magazines .... 60-62 
 
 Ronalds, " Fly-Fisher's Entomology " . . 67 
 
 Sannazarius , . . . * . . . 54 
 
i.sfLEx. • ' .' " '•.•': 
 
 &7 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Sea-Fishing, books on 
 
 68-70 
 
 " Secrets of Angling " 
 
 43-46 
 
 Smith, Russell, "Bibliographical Catalogue 
 
 
 of Books on Angling "... 
 
 4, 5 
 
 *' Sportsman's and Tourist's Guide " 
 
 70 
 
 Stewart, W. C, " Practical Angler " . 
 
 67 
 
 Theocritus, his 2 1st Idyl 
 
 . 18, 19 
 
 Thomson, angling verses in " Spring " . 
 
 55 
 
 Waller, William, ''Divine Meditations" 
 
 53, 54 
 
 Walton, Izaak, " Complete Angler " . 
 
 32-43 
 
 Westvi^ood, Thomas : — 
 
 
 *' Bibliotheca Piscatoria " 
 
 5,6 
 
 "Chronicle of the Complete Angler" 
 
 40-43 
 
 Wheeldon, J. P., ** Angling Resorts near Lon 
 
 
 don" 
 
 71 
 
 Wilcocks, J. C, " Sea Fisherman " . 
 
 69 
 
 Yarrell, W., " History of British Fishes " 
 
 75, 76 
 
 Young, A., see Holdsworth. 
 
 
 Young, L. J. H., " Sea-Fishing as a Sport " 
 
 . 69, 76 
 
 CHISWICK PRESS :— C. WHITTIN&HAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, 
 CHANCERY LANE. 
 
' Chh:ap Editidi^ erown'Sw)., cloth extra, price 6s. 
 
 NOTES ON FISH AND FISHING. By J. J. 
 Manley, M.A. With Illustrations. 
 
 CONTENTS. Note I. Ichthyology. 
 
 Classification of fish — Their structure — *' Queer fish " — Hybrids — 
 
 Senses of fish ; vision, hearing, smelling, tasting — Do fish sleep ? — Do 
 
 fish feel pain ?— Tenacity of life — Diseases of fish — Food and digestive 
 
 powers — Change of colour in fish— Do fish talk? — Books on ichthyology. 
 
 Note II. The Literature of Fishing. 
 Antiquity of angling literature— The '*Book of St. Alban's," by Dame 
 Juliana Berners (or Barnes)— Authors before Izaak Walton— Walton's 
 Contemporaries — Walton — Critics of Walton — Character of Wa'ton — 
 Proposed memorial to Walton — Other contemporaries of Walton— 
 Authors after Walton to end of i8th century — Authors from 1800 to pre- 
 sent time — Poetical literature of angling — Clergyman-authors on 
 angling — General character of angling literature — Catalogues of angling 
 literature — Books on angling recommended — Angling cannot be learnt 
 from books — Want of an " angler's organ." 
 
 Note III. Fishing as a Sport. 
 
 Angling in England and other countries — Angling compared with 
 hunting and shooting— Enthusiasm of anglers — Rationale of angling — 
 Effect of field sports on character— Character of anglers in Izaak Wal- 
 ton's time and afterwards — Modern anglers — London anglers— Metro- 
 politan angling clubs — Angling contests — Anglers lovers of nature — 
 
 Devout " anglers — The virtues of anglers — Angling best recreation for 
 " brain-workers " — Lady anglers. 
 
 Note IV. Fishing as a Fine Art. 
 Antiquity of angling — Ancient and modern fishing-tackle — Progress 
 of angling as an "art" — Numberless questions to be considered by 
 anglers as to habitats and habits of fish, tackle, baits, &c. — Numberless 
 expedients to be resorted to— Education of modern fish — The angler a 
 meteorologist, geologist, entomologist, and naturalist generally — Cha- 
 racter of the angler, by Gervase Markham — Use of aquaria to anglers — 
 Some suggestions. 
 
 Note XV. The Dace. 
 
 Note XVI. Small Fry— The 
 Gudgeon. 
 
 Note XVII. Small Fr^-— The 
 Bleak, The Pope, The Loach. 
 
 Note XVIII. Small Fry— The 
 Minnow, The Stickleback. 
 
 Note XIX. Small Fry— The 
 Miller's Thumb, The Crayfish. 
 
 Note XX. Thames angling. 
 
 London : Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 
 Crown Buildings, 188, Fleet Street, E.G. 
 
 Note V. The Trout. 
 Note VI. The Grayling. 
 Note VII. The Jack 
 Note VIII. The Perch. 
 Note IX. The Carp. 
 Note X. The Tench. 
 Note XI. The Barbel. 
 Note XII. The Bream. 
 Note XIII. The Chub. 
 Note XIV. The Roach. 
 
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