98 NOTES ON FISH AND FISHING. 



NOTE IV. 



FISHING AS A FINE ART. 

 ircp«ppa8f]S avrjp. 



Sophocles. 



" Oh, sir, 'tis not to be questioned but that it is an Art, and an 

 Art worth your learning." — Walton. 



" You see the ways a fisherman doth take 

 To catch the fish, what engines doth he make. 

 Sehold how he engageth all his wits, 

 Also his snares, lines, angles, hooks, and nets.'' 



Btjnyan. 



Antiquity of angling — Ancient and modern fishing-tackle — Progress 

 of angling as an " art " — Numberless questions to be considered by 

 anglers as to habitats and habits offish, tackle, baits, &c. — Number- 

 less expedients to be resorted to — Education of modern fish — The 

 angler a meteorologist, geologist, entomologist, and naturalist gene- 

 rally — Character of the angler by Gervase Markham — Use of 

 aquaria to anglers — Some suggestions. 



Unless mankind were vegetarians before the Flood, as 

 some persons think they were from a comparison of the 

 passages in the Book of Genesis, where to man is given 

 dominion over the animal creation, it may almost be taken 

 for granted that the capture of fish for food was among 

 his earliest pursuits. Nets and spears would probably be 

 the chief means used for such capture, but it is not less 

 probable that hooks and lines, and perhaps rods, were 



