184 Recreations of a Sportsman 



worshipfull sirs, here after ffollee with gentle- 

 manly tretyse full convenyent for contemplatiff 

 louers to rede and understand.' 



" If we take down the old Berners we are im- 

 pressed by the strange fact that the first au- 

 thority on angling and fly-making was a woman, 

 Dame Juliana. In 1496 Wynkyn de Worde 

 published a second edition of the Book of St. 

 Alban's, with a fourth part added The Treatyse 

 of Fysshynge. The personality of the authoress 

 must always be of interest to anglers. It ap- 

 pears that she was prioress of the Nunnery of 

 Sopewell, near St. Alban's, and of noble family. 

 That Dame Juliana had in mind the pot hunter, 

 the modern trout hog, is evident, as she refused 

 to publish her book on fishing separately, on the 

 ground that it might fall into the hands of. 

 gentlemen who would not use her advice and so 

 spoil the sport doubtless by over fishing. Her 

 words are well worth reproducing, and she says: 



" And for by cause that this present treatyse 

 sholde not come to the hondys of eche ydle per- 

 sone whyche wolde desire it yf it were enpryntyd 

 allone by itself, and put in a \ji\\ plaunflet, 

 therefore I have compylyd it in a greter volume of 

 dyverse bokys concernynge to gentyll and noble 

 men, to the entent that the forsayd ydle persones 

 whyche sholde have but lytyll mesure in the sayd 

 dysporte of fysshyng sholde not by this meane 

 vtterly dystroye it." 



