268 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 



Although the author has copied nearly the whole of the 

 practical angling from Chetham, he does not (at any 

 rate not in the edition quoted) give the famous " man's 

 fat " ointment a place. One other indication of his 

 sound practical sense occurs in the following rule which 

 he lays down : — 



"If at any time you happen to be overheated with Walking or other 

 Exercise, avoid Small Liquors, especially Water, as you would Poison; and 

 rather take a Glass of Brandy, the instantaneous effects thereof, in cooling 

 the Body and quenching Drought, are amazing." 



In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, up to 1861, 

 the year included in Westvvood's catalogue, the number 

 of British angling books proper was three hundred and 

 seven, while in poetry and rhyme in the same period there 

 were twenty-seven works relating to the subject. Since 

 1 861 I find, by examining publishers' catalogues and other 

 lists, that seventy-six new works on angling have appeared 

 in Britain, and that during that period six works have 

 been added to our stock of angling rhymes. All this is 

 exclusive of magazine or newspaper articles, or papers 

 devoted to sport. 



Next in order of antiquity comes France. Her earliest 

 contribution to fishing literature apparently consists of a 

 poem in which Gauchet, (who was almoner to Charles the 

 Ninth,) describes the pleasures of the fields, including 

 fishing amongst them. The first edition of this book 

 appeared 1583. In 1598 appeared a work on sea and 

 fresh-water fishing, by Ch. Gamon. Until 1660 no 

 other work upon angling seems to have seen the light in 

 France, and one wonders what caused so imitative a people 



