20 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 



evidently ranked highly as a sporting method in 

 olden times : And if ye list to have a good sport, 

 then tye the cord to a goose's foot, and ye shall see 

 good hauling whether the goose or the pike shall 

 have the better. 



Having thus described fully the special baits for 

 each kind of fish, our authoress gives general direc- 

 tions for keeping and feeding the living baits. The 

 instructions for scouring the maggots are especially 

 quaint, and I doubt if the hardiest and most 

 " manly " of lady anglers of the present day would 

 care to fully carry them out. The maggots are to 

 be first fattened on sheep's tallow and on a cake 

 made with flour and honey, and when ye have 

 cleaned them with sand in a bag of blanket kept 

 under your gown , or other warm thing, two hours or 

 three, then be they best and ready to angle with. 

 A list of baits is given to last all the year, and 

 among the baits for roach and dace is the present 

 popular one of simmered wheat. Take wheat and 

 sethe it well, and then put it in blood all a day and 

 a night and it is a good bayte. The practice of 

 placing the boiled wheat in blood is not followed 

 now, but very probably the bait loses in attractive- 

 ness from neglect of this detail. 



Recent angling writers, with a few exceptions, 

 devote little attention to a very useful and scientific 

 method of determining the bait to be used ; viz., the 

 examination of the contents of the stomach of the 

 first fish caught Nearly all the old angling writers 



