INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 3 



It is an article in the Penitentiale of Egbert,, that fish might be 

 bought, though dead. In the same work, herrings are allowed to 

 be eaten and it states that, when bpiled, they are salutary in fever 

 and diarrhoea, and that their gall, mixed with pepper, is good for a 

 sore mouth.* 



Such are the historical relations between our Saxon forefathers 

 and the art of angling ; and we can trace no abatement in the ori- 

 ginal impulse to cultivate and extend its practice in the subsequent 

 epochs of our nation. We carry, at this moment, a love of the 

 sport to every quarter of the globe, wherever our conquests and 

 commercial connections extend. In fact, we are the great piscatory 

 schoolmasters that "are abroad," teaching all mankind how to 

 multiply their rational out-door pleasures, in the pursuit of an 

 amusement that is at once contemplative, intellect ual ; and healthful. 



JSFor are there any good grounds for complaining that other 

 nations have been slow or dull scholars in taking advantage of our 

 zealous labours and instructions. Within the last forty years, since 

 the intercourse with our continental neighbours has been upon the 

 most intimate and visiting footing, there has been a very marked 

 improvement ? not only as it relates to the practising of rod-fishing 

 itself, in all its various forms, but likewise in the spirit in which 

 the amusement is followed, and the literary taste evinced in de- 

 scribing and treating it. In Belgium and the Hhenish provinces 

 generally, we have at this hour angling clubs in almost everv 

 locality contiguous to where there are eligible fishing-streams, all 

 conducted upon the same principles, and influenced > by the gene- 

 rally prevailing sporting sentiments which regulate similar institu- 

 tions in our own country. Here a free and gentlemanly intercourse 

 takes place among the brethren of the angle; fishing exploits 

 and adventures are rehearsed over for the common amusement 

 of the members ; and we have had, of late years, some specimens 

 of the poetic efforts made to grace the meetings of this order with 

 something of the sentimental and humorous vein. In everv depart- 

 ment of Prance there has likewise been, since the close of the last 

 general war, a great increase in the number of rod-fishers. The 

 English modes of angling, especially for trout, have obtained con- 

 siderable attention, and in some of the finest river-fishing districts 

 are now commonly in vogue among all amateur or professed pisca- 

 torians. ^Many books on the art have also issued from the JParis 

 and provincial presses, containing much > useful information, and 

 written in a truly genial and literary spirit; and, on the whole, 

 there has been a very great change in reference to the extension of 

 this out-door species of amusement among all classes of the people. 

 In Italy, Switzerland, and even in Spain, there has been a consi- 

 derable augmentation of piscatorians within the last century. Some 

 of the rivers in these countries are most munificently supplied with 

 fine, rich trout ; and, in their higher localities, the scenery upon 



* Wilkins, Cone. p. 123. 



