THE GRAYLING: THE FLOWER 

 OF FISHES 



ST. AMBROSE, the good Bishop of 

 Milan, in a sermon to the fishes, apos- 

 trophized the grayling as the " flower of 

 fishes," as being the most beautiful, fra- 

 grant and sweetest of all the finny tribe. 

 The saintly bishop was quite right in his 

 estimation of the graceful, gliding gray- 

 ling. It possesses a refined beauty and 

 delicacy that is seen in no other fish, and it 

 well merits its appellation of the " lady of 

 the streams." 



Dame Juliana Berners, prioress of the Dame Juliana 

 nunnery of Sopwell, near St. Albans, Eng- ^^^^^^^ 

 land, was the author of the first book on 

 angling in the English language — printed 

 in 1496. This " Treatyse of Fysshynge 

 with an Angle " has served as the inspira- 

 tion and model for all subsequent angling 

 authors from Izaak Walton to the present 

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