XXX BIBLIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 



added to the other treatises in 1496 ;* and her being said 

 to have written on fishing. The versification of Sir 

 Tristam was, no doubt, by her : beyond this, we have no 

 trace of her Hterary labors. On the other hand, we know 

 that she was not the sister of Lord Berners, as some have 

 asserted (Middleton's Origin of Printing), for no such 

 name appears in the elaborately correct pedigrees of that 

 family ; nor is it likely that the head of a nunnery would 

 have had the knowledge or opportunities necessary for 

 such productions. Oldys (to whose note on Caxton, 

 Biog. Brit., I am indebted for much of what I have given), 

 points out words and expressions in the former treatises 

 which he thinks "too blunt and indecent for a woman of 

 any character, much less a lady of the holy calling ascrib- 

 ed to Dame Barnes ;" though he should have considered 

 that, in those times, neither sex were as chary of their 

 speech as now. Agreeable to our wishes as would be a 

 certainty, that this first and very graceful essay on our 

 gentle art came from the delicate hand of a noble prioress, 

 we must be denied the satisfaction of claiming Juliana 

 Barnes for our " Dame." 



On comparing the several tracts, it seems to me cleai 

 that the one on Angling was by a different hand; or, if 

 not, after the author had come to a better state of mind. 

 Neither the language nor sentiment are those of one who 

 loved the clamour and dangers of the chase ; for there is 

 throughout a relish of quiet retirement, and communion 

 with nature, not unaccompanied by a meek piety. Thus: 

 "Huntynge, to myn entent, is to laboryous, for the hunter 

 must alwaye renne and folowe his houndes, travellynge 

 and swetynge full sore. He blowyth tyll his lippes blyster, 

 and when he wenyth it be an hare, full oft it is an hegge 

 hogge. Thus he chasyth and wote not what. He cometh 



* Ellis says : " A copy of this edition now in the possession of Mr. Geo 

 Daniel of Islington is supposed to be unique." 



