226 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



of persones credyble, and also found wryten in bokes 

 of credence." ^ 



So that, after all, it was not the earliest work 

 on fishing, as many suppose, although the earliest 

 printed treatise on the subject. In 1883 the late 

 Mr Thomas Satchell, joint author with Mr West- 

 wood of the invaluable Bibliotheca Piscatoria, printed 

 what he called "An Older Form of the Treatyse 

 of Fysshynge with an Angle, attributed to Dame 

 Juliana Barnes," from a manuscript in the possession 

 of Mr Alfred Denison, and previously in possession 

 of Haslewood. It is described as "a fragment of 

 a manuscript of the earlier part of the fifteenth 

 century, forming a considerable portion of the little 

 pamphlet first printed in the Book of St Albans." 

 It is incidentally referred to in the "Advertise- 

 ment " to Pickering's reprint of the Treatyse of 

 Fysshynge, published in 1827, as having formerly 

 belonged to William Herbert. From him it passed 

 to Brand, and from Brand to George Isted, who 

 presented it to Haslewood a few months before 

 he died. Needless to say, it is of the highest 

 interest and importance to literary anglers. That 

 it is an independent text (says Mr Satchell) cannot 

 be doubted, and in this opinion we are supported 

 by the authority of Professor Skeat, who is in- 

 clined to assign it an earlier date than 1450. 

 Though probably an older form of the treatise 

 printed at Westminster in 1496, it is drawn from 

 the same original, which, wherever it first came 



1 These words occur in an older form of the treatise to be 

 noticed presently. 



