ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 161 



The angler is recommended to have all his quill 

 floats tipped with red, and the method, not a very 

 elegant one, of so colouring them is described. In 

 " Float- Angling at Leiger " the addition of a small 

 float above the float ordinarily used, is recommended, 

 "to keep that Float from whirling, and the Line 

 from twisting or snarling." 



The second chapter deals very exhaustively with 

 the way to procure the different kinds of baits, how 

 to preserve them, and how to bait the hook with 

 them, while the third chapter treats " Of alluring 

 Ointments." Many of the receipts are the same as 

 those given by Chetham. 



The forerunner of the spike, which is now fitted to 

 most fly-rods, appears from a description given in 

 Chapter IV. of this book to have been a socket of 

 horn or of wood armed with an iron spike ; it was 

 chiefly used when landing a fish single-handed ; the 

 iron spike was fixed in the ground, then the rod was 

 inserted into the socket, and the fish netted out. 



In dealing with the natural history of the salmon, 

 Hewlett reverses the theory, which is advanced 

 nowadays, that salmon eat nothing in fresh water. 

 He seems to think that the salmon go to the sea for 

 a course of free purgation, to recover from the effects 

 of the aldermanic over-feeding in which they have 

 indulged during their sojourn in fresh water : 



For Salmon being Fish of Prey, and great Feeders, 

 Nature directs them to the salt Waters, as Physick 

 to purge and cleanse them, not only from their 



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