2 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 



The following portion, which relates to fishing, is 

 translated from Thorpe's Analecta Anglo- S axonica : 



M. What trade are you acquainted with ? 



P. I am a fisherman. 



M. What do you get by your trade ? 



P. Food, clothes, and money. 



M. How do you catch the fish ? 



P. I go out in my boat, put forth my nets in the 



river, throw forth the hook and the baskets, 



and whatever they catch I take. 

 M. What do you do if the fish happen to be 



unclean ? 

 P. I throw out the unclean and take the clean 



ones to eat. 



M. Where do you sell your fish ? 

 P. In the city. 

 M. Who buys them ? 

 P. The citizens : I am unable to catch as many as 



I can sell. 



M. What kind of fish do you catch ? 

 P. Eels, pike, minnows, eel pouts, 1 trout, and 



lampreys, and as many other kinds as swim 



in the river. 



M. Why don't you fish in the sea ? 

 P. I do sometimes, but not often, because it is a 



long voyage to the sea. 

 M. What do you catch in the sea ? 

 P. Herrings, salmon, dolphins, sturgeons, oysters, 



crabs, mussels, periwinkles, cockles, plaice, soles, 



lobsters, and many others of a similar kind. 

 M. Would you like to catch a whale ? 

 P. No, I should not. 

 M. Why? 

 P. Because it is dangerous to catch whales. It 



1 The eel pout, referred to as a river fish, is probably the 

 burbot, the restocking with which is advised by Mascall (see 

 page 28). 



