BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ANGLING. 249 



particular fish in that river by means of a fly called Hippurus. The 

 predilection of the fish for this fly, does not induce the angler to attempt 

 their capture by impaling the living insect. Adepts in the sport have 

 contrived a taking device to circumvent them ; for which purpose they 

 invest the body of the hook with purple wool, and having adjusted two 

 wings of a waxy colour, they drop these abstruse cheats gently down stream, 

 and the scaly pursuers who hastily rise and expect nothing less than a 

 dainty bait, snap the decoy and are immediately fixed to the hook. 



Oppian (198 A.D.), a Greek writer, whose work upon the 

 fishes and fishing of the Ancients is, I am glad to say, to 

 be found in our Chetham Library, gives some very 

 interesting matter. The three last books treat exclusively 

 of the art of fishing. In a translation by J. Jones in 

 1722, a passage in this book describing anglers generally 

 is thus rendered : — 



By those who curious have their art defined. 

 Three sorts of fishers are distinct assigned ; 

 The first in hooks delight, here some prepare 

 The angler's taper length and twisted hair : 

 Others the tougher threads of flax entwine, 

 But firmer hands sustain the sturdy line ; 

 A third prevails by more compendious ways. 

 While numerous hooks one common line displays. 



I much fear this last line indicates rather poaching with 

 the otter, than the use of Stewart's tackle. 



Enough has now been said to show the knowledge 

 which the Ancients possessed of angling, and we may 

 proceed to deal with our more modern friends — though 

 even they now seem ancient enough to us — I mean our 

 ancestors of the 15th to the 17th centuries. The first- 

 known angling work of what I designate modern times 

 (because I am now to deal with printed works and the result 

 of the printing press), was the Booke of St. Albans. This 



