PREFACE. 



iHIS tract is printed from a manuscript 

 ^♦M written on five sheets of paper folded in 

 quarto form. The leaves have been slight- 

 ly cut and now measure seven and a half inches 

 by five and a half. The paper is water-marked 

 with a hand or glove, to the middle finger of 

 which a six pointed star is attached by a short 

 line. Each page contains from 22 to 25 lines 

 closely written in a correspondence hand of the 

 earlier half of the 15th century. 



The manuscript is now in the possession of 

 Mr. Denison of Albemarle-street and is regarded 

 as one of the most interesting relics in his famous 

 angling collection. To him it came from the 

 library of Mr. Jesse at the dispersal of which by 

 auction in November, 1868, it was sold for 45>s'. 



The following note by Mr. Joseph Haslewood, 

 giving its previous history as far as is known, is 



