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frequent representations, in the paintings 

 on the walls of the houses at Pompeii, of 

 persons angling, sufficiently prove ; and 

 though I am not aware of Sir Humphrey 

 Davy's authority for describing Trajan as an 

 angler, I have no doubt of the fact. Pliny, 

 indeed, in his Natural History, makes no 

 allusion to fishing as an amusement ; yet 

 Oppian, who lived little more than a century 

 later, wrote a book expressly on the art, 

 which we cannot suppose to have been com- 

 posed for those who fished for a living. 

 He treats wholly of sea-fishing, and never 

 alludes to that branch of the art now ex- 

 clusively distinguished under the name of 

 angling. We, however, learn from his book 

 that snap hooks were then known, and that 

 scented pastes were sometimes used as bait. 

 Hooks were also armed with wire as at pre- 

 sent, and live baits occasionally employed; 

 and when a dead fish was made use of, a 

 plummet of lead was put into its mouth, in 

 order to produce a motion similar to that af 



