8 i&fnas of tbe TCofc, ramie, ant> Gun 



from a woman's pen, and the sport was not one in 

 which the women of that time indulged. I can find 

 no evidence whatever that the ladies of the Middle 

 Ages ever patronised angling. Had they done so, there 

 would certainly have been some reference to it in the 

 mediaeval chronicles of manners which have come down 

 to us. These chronicles contain frequent allusions 

 to the pastimes in which ladies engaged. Hunting 

 and hawking were favourite amusements. Shooting, 

 too, with the crossbow was a feminine accomplishment. 

 I have seen at the British Museum two rough old cuts 

 representing ladies shooting not only deer but rabbits. 

 But never a word or a picture have I found illustrative 

 of their pursuit of angling. From which I infer that 

 ladies did not in the Middle Ages patronise the rod 

 and line. It is only in quite recent times that women 

 have taken seriously to fishing ; and so far as I know, the 

 only woman who has ever written a book on the gentle 

 craft is Mrs. Mary Orvis Marbury, of Boston, U.S., 

 whose work on " Favourite Flies " is known to most 

 anglers. 



There was indeed a book published early in the 

 eighteenth century entitled "The Female Angler," 

 which professed to instruct ladies "in the newest and 

 most excellent way of Angling and taking all manner 

 of fish ; containing a collection of choice and rare 

 experiments, and secrets now in practice among the 

 most famous Fishermen Anglers." The book is dedi- 

 cated to the Countess of Sunderland, and the authoress 

 was said to be Mrs. Hannah Wolley. But the work 

 is a mere compilation from various treatises on angling ; 



