218 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 



are differently affected by the indulgence in too much 

 alcohol over-night : 



Over-night mix bean-flower with a little honey, wet 

 it with rectify'd spirits of wine, and a little oil of 

 turpentine, make it up into little pellets, and such 

 fish as nibble it, when thrown in, will be stupified, so 

 that in the morning coming to themselves a little, 

 they will bite very eagerly, as being after their 

 drunken fit, exceeding hungry. 



Among A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and 

 Valuable Pieces, collected by W. Ruddiman, from 

 " the fugitive Productions of the most eminent Wits 

 of the present Age," and published by him in 1773, 

 there is included " The Art of Angling in Eight 

 Dialogues," written in verse. 



Ruddiman apologetically attributes the appearance 

 of the book in verse, instead of in prose, solely to the 

 vanity of the author, whose expression seemed " to 

 savour so of vanity, that I thereupon left him to enjoy 

 his self-sufficiency." 



The preface concludes with the statement that no 

 expense has been spared in the preparation of the 

 work, and that a set of notes has been added by 

 sundry learned and ingenious men, retained in the 

 constant pay of the bookseller. Among these learned 

 paid retainers Moses Browne again appears. 



Neither the verses nor the notes are of sufficient 

 interest or merit to deserve further notice. 



Appended, somewhat suggestively, to this poem on 

 The Art of Angling \s " An Introduction to the Art of 



