The seventh if that the weather be hot.
The eighth if it rain.

The ninth if it hail or snow fall.

The tenth if it be a tempest.

The eleventh is if it be a great wind.

The twelfth if the wind be in the east, and that is worst, for commonly neither winter nor summer the fish will not bite then. The west and north winds be good, but the south is best.

Baits for every manner of fish and for every month. -For ye can not bring an hook in to a fishes mouth without a bait, which baits for every manner of fish and for every month here followeth in this wise.

Salmon. The salmon is a gentle fish, but he is combrous for to take. His baits are with a red worm in the beginning and ending of a season. And also with a bob that breedeth in a dung hill, and especially with a sovereign bait, that breedeth on a water-dock. Also ye may take him but it is seldom seen with a dubbe at such time as when he leapeth.

Trout. The trout for by cause he is a right deyntous (dainty) fish and also a right fervent biter we shall speak next of him. In his leaping time with a dubbe. Ye shall angle to him in March with a minnow hanged on your hook by the nether lip without float or plumb drawing up and down in the stream until ye fele him fast. The other baits recommended for a trout are:-The red worm. The Ineeba also named seven eyes [the River Lamprey]. The Canker that breedeth in a great tree. The red snail. The stone fly. The cow-dung worm. The silk worm. The bait that breedeth on a fern leaf. A cod worm. A flesh fly. Fat of bacon. For the Grayling a somewhat similar, but shorter selection is given.

The Barbel is a sweat fish but is a quasy meat and perilous for man's body. And if he be eaten raw, he may be cause of man's death which hath often

B

been seen. These be his baits. Fresh cheese toasted in a candle. Hawthorn worm. Great red worm. Cod worm. Water dock leaf worm. Hornet worm. In August and for all the year take the tallow of a sheep and soft cheese of each a like amount, and a little honey and grind or stamp them together long and temper it until it be tough and put thereto flour a little and make it into small pellets. And it is a good bait to angle with at the ground. And loke that it sink in the water, or else it is not good to this purpose.

The Carp is a dainty fish but there be but few in England and so I write the less of him. But well I wot that the red worm and the minnow be good bait for him at all times.

The Chevin [Chub] is a stately fish and his head is a dainty morsel. And because he is a strong biter, he hath the more baits which be these. Red worms, Stone flies, Red snails, Silk worms, Crickets, Cockchafers, Grass hoppers, Bumble bees, Hornets, Young bees, Young frogs, Young mice, Maggots, Cherries.

For Bream, which is a noble fish and dainty, the baits are Red worm, butter-flies, Maggots.

A Tench is a right good fish and healeth all other manner of fish that be hurt if they may come to him. He is for the most part of the year in the mud. He is an evil biter; his baytes be these. For all the year brown bread toasted with honey in likeness of a buttered loaf, and the great red worm.

The Perch is a dainty fish and passing wholesome and a free biter and these be his baits:—a variety of worms including the dung hill worm and the Cod worm, and maggots.

The Roach is an easy fish to take and if he be fat and pennyed (probably well finned' .e., in good condition) then he is good meat and these be his baits: Red worm, Cod worm, House flies, Maggots, Fat of bacon.

The Dace is a gentle fish to take. The baits mentioned are much the same as those for the roach. For commonly their biting and their baits be like.

The Bleak be but a feeble fish yet he be wholesome. The baits are the same as for the Roach and dace.

The Ruffe is a right and wholesome fish. The baits are the same as those given for the perch.

The Gudgeon is a good fish of the mochenes [i.e., of its size]. Baits: Codworm, Red Worm, Maggots.

The Minnow when he shineth in the water then he is a biter. The baits are the same as for the gudgeon only they must be smaller.

The Eel is a quasy fish and a ravenor and a devourer of the brood of fish. And for the pike also is a devourer of fish I put them both behind all others to angle. The baits are a great angyll twitch [earth worm] or a minnow.

The Pike is a good fish: but for that he devoureth so many as well of his own kinde as of other, I love him the less. And for to take him you shall do this. Take a codling hook and take a roach or a fresh herring, and a wire with a hole in the end and put it in at the mouth and out at the tail down by the ridge of the fresh herring and then put the line of your hook in after and draw the hook into the cheek of the fresh herring.

A float and lead are to be attached to the line, and the tackle is cast to a spot where the pike "useth." An alternative method is described, in which a frog is used, in place of the fresh herring; the frog is sometimes dipped into asafœtida in order that it may prove more attractive to the pike.

From the frequency with which the following way of capturing pike appears in old angling works, it

evidently ranked highly as a sporting method in olden times:-And if ye list to have a good sport, then tye the cord to a goose's foot, and ye shall see good hauling whether the goose or the pike shall have the better.

Having thus described fully the special baits for each kind of fish, our authoress gives general directions for keeping and feeding the living baits. The instructions for scouring the maggots are especially quaint, and I doubt if the hardiest and most manly" of lady anglers of the present day would care to fully carry them out. The maggots are to be first fattened on sheep's tallow and on a cake made with flour and honey, and when ye have cleaned them with sand in a bag of blanket kept under your gown, or other warm thing, two hours or three, then be they best and ready to angle with. A list of baits is given to last all the year, and among the baits for roach and dace is the present popular one of simmered wheat. Take wheat and sethe it well, and then put it in blood all a day and a night and it is a good bayte. The practice of placing the boiled wheat in blood is not followed now, but very probably the bait loses in attractiveness from neglect of this detail.

Recent angling writers, with a few exceptions, devote little attention to a very useful and scientific method of determining the bait to be used; viz., the examination of the contents of the stomach of the first fish caught. Nearly all the old angling writers

draw attention to the value of this practice. Juliana Berners recommends it as follows:-For baits for great fish keep specially this rule. When ye have taken a great fish undo the maw, and what ye find there make that your bait, for it is best.

The practical portion of the book concludes with the following list of twelve artificial flies, with directions how to tie them.

For March two kinds of Dun Fly are given.

For April the Stone Fly, and another fly for the beginning of May.

For May the Yellow Fly.
For June the Dun Cutte.

Tandy Fly.

The Black Louper.
The Maure Fly. The

For July the Wasp Fly. The Shell Fly.
For August the Drake Fly.

The most charming portions of this interesting work are the introductory and the concluding parts; the latter dealing with the angling morals which the authoress seeks to inculcate. The work indicates throughout a high ideal of sport, and it is evident that the gross-weight and other fishing competitions of present times would have found no favour in her eyes.

Ye that can angle and fish to your pleasures as this foresaid treatise teacheth and sheweth you, I charge and require you in the name of all noble men that ye fish in no man's severall water: as his pond, stew, or other necessary thing to keep fish in without his license and good will.

And also if ye shall do in like manner as this