THE TALE OF THE FISHES 



of Martial, wherein is sung the rising of the feast- 

 famous Scarus (akin to our tautog) "decoyed by 

 fraudful flies," and delights in the consummate descrip- 

 tion of this method of angling for trout as told by 

 Claudius Elian in a second century zoology. Ausonius 

 of Bordeaux (4th century A. D.) in his "Mosella" 

 speaks of the Salar (common brown trout) "starred 

 with spots," and then there is a break in the literature 

 relating to this subject until we come to the interesting 

 work of Dame Juliana Berners, prioress of Sopwell 

 Nunnery at St. Albans, the first English authoress and 

 the earliest writer in English on field sports "A Trea- 

 tyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle," printed in England 

 in 1496. This treatise, probably a compilation from 

 monkish manuscripts that are lost, presents detailed in- 

 structions for the manufacture of tackle and describes 

 minutely a "Jurie of XII flyes wyth wyche ye shall 

 angle to ye trought and grayllyng." These flies I have 

 had tied by a modern expert in accordance with the 

 directions given in the treatise, and they not only do 

 credit to the taste of "Fishin' Julie," but are without 

 superiors among the novelties of to-day. 



The good Dame's monograph proved a source of 



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