THE MIDDLE AGES. 33 



likewise about the value and importance of this repository 

 of the " monarch of the streams." 



There was a paper read a few years ago, at a society of 

 antiquaries at Arras, in France, on an old manuscript 

 treatise on fishing, found among the remains of the valu- 

 able library belonging to the Abbey of St. Bertin's, at 

 St. Omer. This work was supposed, by the style of 

 writing, to have been composed about the year one 

 thousand ; arid to have been divided into twenty-two 

 chapters. As far as could be gathered from the mutilated 

 .remains of the work, the author's main object was to 

 prove that fishers had been men singularly noticed by 

 Divine approbation; and he supports this theoretical 

 view from the leading incidents in the life of the fisher- 

 men of Judea, through whom Christianity was promul- 

 gated to the world. There was likewise appended to the 

 manuscript a full list of all river fish, the baits used for 

 taking them, and the suitable seasons for angling for 

 each sort of fish. One of the French critics on this 

 singular production says, " That angling was sufficiently 

 common in the days of our Saviour is obvious to every 

 one who possesses the New Testament ; and it has always 

 proved suggestive to our minds that the greatest event 

 the world has ever witnessed the greatest change 

 ever effected on human society and which is destined to 

 advance and increase till all mankind shall feel the bene- 

 fits of its influence, was brought about by the agency of 

 a few poor fishermen. It would seem as if the innocence 



