PREFATORY EEMAEKS. 



ANGLING is, unquestionably, one of the most ancient arts or 

 amusements of which we have any record, It is mentioned in 

 the books of the Old Testament. It is engraved on Egyptian 

 remains of three thousand years old ; and, in the monuments 

 from Nineveh, recently deposited in the British Museum, we 

 have a representation, almost as large as life, of a man angling, 

 with a rod and line, and with a fishing-creel on his shoulders, 

 precisely similar in shape to those we use in Great Britain at 

 the present day. The art is mentioned by Herodotus, one of 

 the earliest Greek historians ; and Theocritus, a Grecian ang- 

 ler, who flourished B.C. 270, treats of his favourite sport in a 

 poem of considerable length. The Eomans fished with net 

 and hook, as we do at present ; and a caricature of angling 

 has been found among the remains of the City of Hercula- 

 nscum. 



