OLD-FASHIONED ANGLING 25 



A great number of recipes for unguents, to 

 smear over the worms used so as to make them 

 more attractive, are given ; and most extraordinary 

 they are : — assafoetida, three drachms ; camphire, one 

 drachm ; Venice turpentine, one drachm ; beaten up 

 with oils of lavender and camomile, is one recipe. 

 Another is, " mulberry juice, hedgehog's fat, oil of 

 water-lilies and oil of pennyroyal," mixed together ; 

 but the most elaborate one is as follows : — " Take 

 the oils of camomile, lavender, and aniseed, of 

 each a quarter of an ounce ; heron's grease and 

 the best of assafoetida, each two drachms ; two 

 scruples of cummin seed finely beaten to powder ; 

 Venice turpentine, camphire, and galbanum, of each 

 a drachm ; add two grains of civet and make into 

 an unguent. This must be kept close in a glazed 

 earthenware pot, or it loses much of its virtue ; 

 anoint your line with it and your expectation will 

 be abundantly answered. Some anglers, however, 

 place more confidence in a judicious choice of baits 

 and a proper management of them, than in the 

 most celebrated unguents." I tliink the conclud- 

 ing paragraph is delightful. I suppose it did at 

 length dawn on the author's mind that people 

 might object to carrying about such hideously 

 stinking compositions. 



The angler is told that " his apparel must not be 



