52 FLY FISHING FOE TROUT. 



A litres poissons es eaues douches, 

 A morceaulx de vers ou de mouches. 



It is tempting, but would be wrong, to think 

 that the last line refers to artificial flies. The 

 pieces of fly with which Ovid baited his " en- 

 gines " must I am afraid have been natural 

 flies, for besides the fact that this is the obvious 

 meaning, he goes on to say that a fish trap of 

 osier was one of these engines, whilst the only 

 equipment mentioned which could possibly be 

 used for fly fishing is a hand line, and this is 

 said to be leaded and with a cork float, and 

 therefore not precisely adapted for throwing a 

 fly.* 



There is a long gap after Jean Lef evre, a gap 

 from the reign of Charles V. to that of Louis 

 XIV., and even then the fly is not mentioned. 

 It is true that a famous book had appeared in 

 the interval, for Charles Estienne had produced 

 his Maison Rustique at the middle of the six- 

 teenth century, a remarkable work which all 

 Europe read for hundreds of years, and out of 

 which William Cobbett nearly three centuries 

 later taught his children farming and field 

 sports. But it does not mention the rod. The 

 first book which does is Les Ruses Innocentes, 

 which, published in 1660, went through four 

 editions before the end of the century. Its 

 author was Frere Frangois Fortin, Religieux, 



* The book has been printed : La Vieille, ou les Dernieres 

 Amours d'Ovide. Edited by M. Cocheris. Paris 1861. M. 

 Cocheris' Introduction is a model of bibliographical and 

 scholarly information. 



