17 



PREFACE 



TO THE ENGLISH'EDITION OF 1827. 



* 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The following " Treatyfe of Fyffhynge 

 wyth an angle " is not only the earlieft, 

 but by far the moft curious effay upon the 

 fubject which has ever appeared in the 

 Englifh, or, perhaps, in any other lan- 

 guage. 



It feems to have been firft printed by 

 Wynkyn De Worde, in his edition of the 

 Book of St. Albans in 1496 ; and, judging 

 from its orthography and language, it was 

 evidently written in the middle of- the fif- 

 teenth century. An attempt has been 



