

ZTbc jfatbers of Hnottna 7 



form of a dialogue a form which has been a favourite 

 \vith anglers ever since, from Izaak Walton to Sir 

 Humphry Davy. 



The earliest printed treatise on fishing in our language 

 is that assigned to Dame Juliana Bernes, or Barnes 

 (not, as it is commonly misspelt, Berners), compiler of 

 the "Boke of St. Albans," the first woman writer in 

 English literature. Legend has it that Dame Bernes 

 was sometime Prioress of Sopwell Nunnery, near St. 

 Albans, that she was the daughter of Sir James 

 Bernes, who was beheaded in the reign of Richard II., 

 and that she was beautiful, high-spirited, and fond of 

 sport. But this is mere conjecture. Beyond the state- 

 ment on the title-page of the " Boke of St. Albans," 

 printed in 1486, that the matter therein contained was 

 collected by Dame Juliana Bernes, there is no proof 

 that any such person ever existed. As to the tradition 

 that she was Prioress of Sopwell Nunnery, it is true that 

 there is a long blank in the extant list of the prioresses 

 of that convent, and it is possible that there may have 

 been during that unrecorded period a prioress named 

 Juliana Bernes ; but if so, why should she be styled 

 " Dame," a title only given to married women ? 



I am not concerned here with the " Boke of St. 

 Albans," and its disquisitions on Hawking, Hunting, 

 and Coats-of-Arms, but only with the "Treatyse of 

 Fysshinge with an Angle," which is not to be found in 

 the first edition of the " Boke," but was added ten 

 years later. Now, I do not believe that this " Treatyse " 

 was written by a woman. The details and instructions 

 given are far too minute and technical to have come 



