THE LITERATURE OE EISHING. 49 



in which silk-worm gut is mentioned. The " Gentle- 

 man Angler" in 1726 contained " short plain instructions 

 whereby the most ignorant beginner may, in a little time, 

 become a perfect artist in Angling for Salmon, &c, &c," 

 (Oh, for the happy days when Salmo Solar, an uneducated 

 beast, did not know " to a hair" or feather the orthodox 

 lure to be artistically presented to him ! ) Brooks 

 "wired in," mostly as a plagiarist, a.d. 1740; and in 

 the same year The Complete Fisher, (with almost as 

 many names at the back of the title recommending it as 

 certain bills in Parliament recently have had of " Home 

 Eulers " who tried to dodge the ballot,) taught the " True 

 Art of Angling," and by the way gave the names of 

 " places round London for Angling " which afford a 

 curious study now that more than another century has 

 been unreeled. In 1 746, or about this date, we have the 

 best book of the period on Angling, Richard Boulker's 

 Art of Angling, improved in all its parts, especially Fly- 

 fishing." The Boulkers, who lived at Ludlow, were famous 

 trout-fishers for generations. Charles published a second 

 edition of his father's book in 1774, and since then it has 

 seen several republications, the last being as recent as 

 1829. 



The Angler's Magazine (Bibliophilists and others whom 

 it may concern, please find out who G. S. at the end of the 

 preface may be, or may have been, or more simply was !) 

 boasting itself a "Necessary and delightful Storehouse," 

 and " the completest Manual ever published on the subject," 

 hands on the torch in 1754. Fairfax in 1758 keeps it 

 burning with his " Complete Sportsman, or Universal 

 Angler ;" and after that, as far as I can make out, comes 

 a complete lull, or nearly so, at least in the way of new 



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