ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 3 



is safer for me to go to the river with my boat, 



than to go hunting whales with many boats. 

 M. Why so? 

 P. Because I prefer to catch a fish, which I am 



able to kill, rather than one, who is able to 



sink and kill with one stroke, not only myself, 



but also my companions. 

 M. But nevertheless many men catch whales, and 



so obtain great profit. 

 P. You speak truly, but I dare not owing to the 



sluggishness of my spirit. 



It is a long jump from the tenth to the fifteenth 

 century, but during the intervening period, with the 

 exception of a few statutes relating to fishing, I am 

 not aware of any mention of angling in English 

 literature. 



Mr Hartshorne has published in his Ancient 

 Metrical Tales > 1829, a poem taken from a manuscript 

 by Piers of Fulham, which is supposed to have been 

 written about the beginning of the fifteenth century. 

 The original manuscript is in Trinity College, 

 Cambridge. 



The following extracts are taken from Mr Harts- 

 home's book : 



Loo worshipfull Sirs here after ffolleweth a 

 gently manly Tretyse full convenyent for con- 

 templatiff louers to rede and understond made by a 

 noble Clerke Piers of ffulham sum tyme ussher of 

 Venus Schole, whiche hath brieflye compyled many 

 praty conceytis in lone under covert termes of 

 ftysshyng and fifowlyng. 



Perdimus anguillam manibus dum stringimus illam. 



