VI 



From the Christian era to the discovery of printing, there 

 were many works written on the piscatory art ; most of them 

 have, however, heen lost, or are now mouldering in manuscript 

 in the chief public libraries of France, Italy, Spain, Holland, 

 and other northern countries of Europe. Since the establish- 

 ment of printing to the present day, there have not been fewer 

 than from five to six hundred works written on the art, in the 

 several kingdoms of the European Continent ; more than one- 

 half of the number belonging to the English literature on the 

 subject. 



But our own nation has taken a decided lead, from the ear- 

 liest times, in disseminating a knowledge of rod-fishing in 

 every quarter of the globe. There is scarcely a section of its 

 surface, on which a Briton has set his foot, where the art is 

 not known. There are angling clubs or societies in every 

 country of Europe. The art is practised in all our extensive 

 Indian territories; throughout the colony of the Cape of 

 Good Hope; in various portions of Australia; and in the 

 Canadas. In all the United States of America, particularly 

 in those of New England, rod-fishing is generally followed 

 as an amusement, and has been eloquently written about, as is 

 manifest from the treatises and occasional papers on the sub- 

 ject, which have issued from the pens of Washington Irving, 

 Dr. Smith, Dr. Beecher, and the late Hon. Daniel Webster. 

 We see from the American newspapers that angling societies 

 are formed in districts that lie a thousand miles west of the 

 city of New York. In fact, the Anglo-Saxon race are destined 

 to make angling a common and rational recreation all over the 

 world. In their diversified migrations, a fishing-rod is now 



