266 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 



And also that — 



The Irvvell is one of the principal Rivers (for anghng) in England. 



Singular to say, until this date we find no mention made 

 of the Mersey in angling works, and then only in a work 

 entitled, The Art of Angling, Rock and Sea Fishing, by 

 Dr. Brookes. This book, which was published in 1740, 

 went through more editions than any angling work, 

 except The Compleat Angler. It went through fourteen 

 editions, the last in 18 11. It is in the main copied from 

 Chetham, and probably owes its popularity to the 

 instructions in sea-fishing which it contains. It may not 

 be uninteresting just to quote the special allusions made 

 in this book to Lancashire waters. Thus on page 42 of 

 the edition of 1799, we find : — 



The Eel-brood, which in Spring months swim in the sides of the 

 Mersey as high as Warburton, are caught by the poor People, in Scoops, in 

 order to store fish ponds, or scald, or make Eel-pies with. 



The Mersey gudgeon seems to have grown especially 

 large, for he says — 



The Gudgeon is generally five or six inches long, sometimes in the 

 Mersey eight or nine. 



We are also told that — 



The Lamprey, called by Dr. Plat ' The Pride oi the Isis,' is found in 

 the Mersey. 



Special enactments which are to prevent the taking, 

 killing, or destroying salmon under eighteen inches from 

 the eye to the middle of the tail, and also making close 

 season for salmon in the Mersey, from the 12th of August 

 to the 23rd of November, are quoted. After three pages 

 devoted to the natural history of the salmon, the author 



