ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 127 



The following is, I believe, the first description of 

 the method of using leger tackle : 



If you fail in your expectations of Chub-Fishing, 

 then be upon the Drable for a Barbel, which is in 

 this nature : You must have a strong Line, of about 

 six yards long of Hair and Silk ; which must be put 

 (before you fasten it to your rod) through a piece of 

 Lead . . . , that it may slip to and fro, if any thing 

 bite at it. 



It is evident that Gilbert did not follow Dennys' 

 advice : 



And never on his greedy belly thinke, 

 From rising sunne vntill a low he sincke, 



for he concludes his book with the following 

 suggestion : " And if you have a boy to go along 

 with you, a good Neats-Tongue, and a bottle of 

 Canary should not be wanting : To the enjoyment 

 of which I leave You." 



The Anglers Vade-Mecum, by James Chetham, 

 was published in 1681 ; a second edition, consider- 

 ably enlarged, was published in 1689, and a third 

 edition, or rather a reprint of the second, appeared 

 in 1700. 



James Chetham lived at Smedley, near Manchester. 

 He was born on 29th December 1640; he matricu- 

 lated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, on nth April 

 1660, but did not proceed to a degree ; and died 

 in 1692. 



The Anglers Vade-Mecum bears throughout the 



