CRUELTY TO LIVE BAIT. 85 



who had preceded him in piscatory lore. Indeed 

 Walton appears to have copied from others with 

 but little discrimination, and an evident ignorance 

 of the art he professes to teach. This is apparent 

 in several of the instructions given to his disciple, 

 Venator ; and it is evident, also, that his contempo- 

 rary, Richard Franck, thought that they were com- 

 piled from authorities, which were anything but 

 authentic. The very serious charge of cruelty 

 brought against Walton is founded on the instruc- 

 tions, he gives his scholar, for baiting a hook with 

 a live frog, in which he tells him to " use him 

 as though he loved him, that he may live the 

 longer." In looking through some of our ancient 

 books on the art of angling, similar instructions 

 may be found. In one of them a recommenda- 

 tion is given to attach the frog by a string to the 

 leg of " a goose's foot/' in order to " see good 

 halynge whether the gose or the pyke shall have 

 the better." Another authority, speaking of the 

 best bait for a pike, says " but the yellow frog, of 

 all frogs, brings him to hand, for that's his dainty 

 and select diet, wherein nature has placed such 

 magical charms, that all his powers can never 

 resist them, if fastened on the hook with that 

 exactness, that his life may shine, and the bait 

 seem undeprived of natural motion." Again, in 

 the "Secrets of Angling," (1612), the following 

 directions may be found for taking pike. 



