CURIOSITIES OF ANGLING LITERATURE. 269 



upon Ambrose Pare by the original compounder, 

 probably as a punishment for the excess of his curi- 

 osity, cropped up in the guise of a joke for which the 

 credulity of the anglers of that age had evidently pre- 

 pared the victims. It is clear, however, that it served 

 to assist the chemists and druggists in disposing of 

 their oils, etc., for at least two centuries, and that the 

 fishermen were pretty handsomely mulcted in the pur- 

 chase thereof. The fact of dipping the earth-worms 

 into white wine to kill them will not escape the 

 notice of the intelligent angler, who will recall 

 Oppian's allusion to the uses of wine-lees in fishing, 

 and the several prescriptions of other old writers 

 upon angling, whereof wine is an ingredient for a 

 paste in which to dip or place the worms or gentles 

 for a short time only previous to the use of them : 

 this doubtless to aggravate their writhing, and make 

 them more " lively upon the hook." 



Approaching a literature nearer to our own day 

 (1740), John Eichardson, Gent., thus expresses him- 

 self " as to ointments or unguents :" 



" Many ingenious anglers esteem them so, for the effectual 

 furtherance of this sport, that they affirm they will not only 

 allure but even compel fish to bite. For my own part, I 

 honestly confess, that though I have found them in some 

 measure advantageous to my recreations, yet in far from so 

 high a degree asijhas been pretended. However, it is worth 

 every sportsman's while to be acquainted with some of them, 

 that if they are willing to be at the expense and labour of a 



