ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 217 



son of Richard Bowlker, under the title of The Art of 

 Angling \ and Compleat Fly-Fisher. 



According to the Bibliotheca Piscatoria, Charles 

 Bowlker died at Ludlow on 3ist December 1779; 

 " he was considered the most finished fly-fisher of his 

 day." 



The second edition of this work is certainly not as 

 interesting as the first ; it contains no new original 

 matter, but a collection of " Miscellaneous Secrets," 

 collected from other works, together with the " Laws 

 of Angling," is inserted at the end of the book. 

 Richard's statement in proof of the theory of the 

 viviparous generation of eels, his observations to show 

 that the May-fly does not come from the cod-bait, 

 and his account of the Barn Meer pike are all 

 omitted. 



Other editions of this book appeared in 1780, 1786, 

 1788, 1792, 1820, etc. 



To the earlier editions of The Complete Angler, by 

 Mr T. Fairfax, no date is affixed ; the Bibliotheca 

 Piscatoria assigns to the first edition a date about 

 1760. The copy, however, from which the following 

 extracts were taken, cannot have been issued before 

 1771, for it contains an advertisement of a poem, 

 The Debauchee, which was published in that year. 



This book is almost entirely a compilation from far 

 earlier works, so that the exact date of its publication 

 is not of much importance. 



The following " Choice Receipt," " never before 

 made publick," tends to show that fishermen and carp 



