66 



authorities cited, there are five decidedly in 

 favour of the Limerick .hooks ; namely, Sir 

 H. Davy, Mr. Taylor, Professor Rennie, Mr. 

 Ronalds, and Colonel Hawker. Notwithstand- 

 ing the weight of so many great authorities 

 against us, we still maintain the superiority of 

 the Kendal hook over the Limerick. It is 

 equally as well tempered, far lighter, and, if 

 sneck-bent, it has two advantages over the 

 Limerick hook. We have invariably remarked, 

 that the old anglers, and particularly the most 

 noted poachers, in the neighbourhood of Ash- 

 borne, will never buy any but crooked-bent 

 hooks, or those that are, as they say, " skewed" 

 in the bend. This observation is made, in order 

 that it may be placed in juxta-position with 

 the very confident assertion of Mr. Taylor, who 

 says, that straight-bent hooks are the best. 



If the reader choose to make his own hooks, 

 he will follow the following method. It is 

 extracted from Professor Rennie's "Alphabet 

 of Scientific Angling," in which the learned 

 professor has done little more than paraphrase, 

 without acknowledgment, the directions of 

 Sir H. Davy on this subject : " The soft steel 

 for making hooks is made by cementing with 

 charcoal good soft malleable iron, such as is 

 procured from the nails of old horse-shoes, till 

 it is converted into steel. It is then formed 



