94 THE PIKE 



Wolfe, and first sold at the Little North Door of 

 St. Paul's, at the sign of the Gun, in 1590 ; and there 

 were other editions which followed. The compila- 

 tion is in many respects an echo of other works, 

 notably Charles Estienne's ' L' Agriculture et Maison 

 Rustique,' and he likewise adopts almost verbatim the 

 sentence above quoted from Dame Juliana. He has, 

 however, discovered that the float was much out of 

 place with the tackle there described, and recom- 

 mends that having drawn your wire out of the bait's 

 tail you must * put you line thereto ' and draw it up 

 and down the water or pool. This is really the 

 essence of the system, the main principle of trolling, 

 known in modern times as l working the bait.' c If he 

 see it,' L.M. (Leonard Mascall) continues, ' he will 

 take it in haste. Let him go with it awhile, and then 

 strike and hold, and so tire him in the water.' 



Having delivered himself of this improvement the 

 old author returns to Dame Juliana's idea of the 

 plummet of lead placed a yard from the hook, and a 

 float above the lead ; but he adds on his own account 

 the advice not to allow the bait to sink too low, ' for 

 then the yeeles will eat your bait away.' He also, 

 like the Dame, recommends the frog, which is to be 

 put in ' boares grease ' or ' Asa fetida,' boiled ; and he 

 innocently adds that the angler should take a roach 



