xii 'FOREWORD 



be readily traced by reference to the subsequent 

 English angling authors. 



The question, however, still remains, whence did 

 the compiler of the Treaty se of ffysshynge wyth an 

 Angle derive his or her information for the com- 

 position of such a book? There can, I think/ be 

 little doubt that this notable work was a com- 

 pilation from the old manuscripts written and 

 preserved by generations of monks in the various 

 monasteries : and it is most probable that the 

 original manuscripts were brought over from the 

 French abbeys. 



That such old manuscripts on fishing did exist 

 is proved by a paper, mentioned in Blakey's Angling 

 Literature, which was read before a society of anti- 

 quaries at Arras, in France, and entitled, " On an 

 old manuscript treatise on fishing, found among the 

 remains of the valuable library belonging to the 

 Abbey of St Bertins, at St Omer." This work, which 

 was much mutilated, was supposed to have been 

 written about the year 1000, and to have been divided 

 into twenty-two chapters. The primary object of 

 the author appears to have been to show that fisher- 

 men were exceptionally favoured with the Divine 

 approbation, but appended to the work there was 

 " a full list of all river fish, the baits used for taking 

 them, and the suitable seasons for angling for each 

 sort of fish." 



In compiling my work on ancient angling authors 

 I have endeavoured as far as possible to quote the 



