CURIOSITIES OF ANGLING LITERATURE. 29 
_ upon Ambrose Paré by the original compounder, 
probably as a punishment for the excess of his curi- 
osity, cropped up in the guise of a joke for which the 
credulity of the anglers of that age had evidently pre- 
pared the victims. It is clear, however, that it served 
to assist the chemists and druggists in disposing of 
their oils, etc., for at least two centuries, and that the 
fishermen were pretty handsomely mulcted in the pur- 
chase thereof. The fact of dipping the earth-worms 
into white wine to Aiil them will not escape the 
notice of the intelligent angler, who will recall 
Oppian’s allusion to the uses of wine-lees in fishing, 
and the several prescriptions of other old writers 
upon angling, whereof wine is an ingredient for a 
paste in which to dip or place the worms or gentles 
for a short time only previous to the use of them: 
this doubtless to ageravate their writhing, and make 
them more “ lively upon the hook.” 
Approaching a literature nearer to our own day 
(1740), John Richardson, Gent., thus expresses him- 
self “as to ointments or unguents :”—- _ 
“ Many ingenious anglers esteem them so, for the effectual 
furtherance of this sport, that they affirm they will not only 
allure but even compel fish to bite. For my own part, I 
honestly confess, that though I have found them in some 
measure advantageous to my recreations, yet in far from so 
high a degree ashas been pretended. However, it is worth 
every sportsman’s while to be acquainted with some of them, 
that if they are willing to be at the expense and labour of a 
