14 "An Ungallant Hypothesis." 



another editor* says, is "an ungallant 

 hypothesis." 



Sentimental reasons apart, it seems to 

 me that Dame Juliana Berners has a 

 better claim to be considered the compiler 

 of the first English work on fishing than 

 any one else ; for no claim is made for any 

 other body ; and until such claim is made 

 and substantiated, let us believe that the 

 teacher of Walton was this " Fcemina 

 illustris ! corporis et animi dotibus abun- 

 dans ac forma elegantia spectabilis" 



For a most careful and minute de- 

 scription of the various reprints of The 

 Book of St. Albans and The Treaty se of 

 Jysshinge, see Westwood and Satchell's 

 invaluable Bibliotheca Piscatoria a work 

 without which it may most truly be said no 

 angling library is complete. Alas that both 

 compilers are dead, and no one has, so far, 

 continued it ! 



* " Treatyse ofFysshynge wyth an Angle. Edited 

 byPiscator. Privately printed. Edinburgh, 1885.'' 

 A dainty little edition translated from the old 

 black letter of the original into present-day typo- 

 graphy, but containing such errors as " below " for 

 "yellow," "dysporte" for "dystroye," etc. But 

 the most desirable of all the reprints is the fac- 

 simile reproduction published by Mr. Elliot Stock, 

 with a most pleasant " Introduction " by an angler 

 and well-known angling writer the Rev. M. G. 

 Walkins, M.A. 



