The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-10-19

writer of English ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
said that "a skillful angler ought to be
a general scholar and scene in all the
liberall sciences, as a grammarian, to
know how either to write or.sdiscourse
Of his art In true and fitting terms,
either without affectation or rudeness.
And there was Barker, the brusque old
sportsman and epicure, who wrote the
cart of Angling" and Bankers De-
light" The author seems to have been
a peculiar character, half a sportsman,
half a chef in the employ Of the for
eign legation, and always protesting
that he laid no claim to scholarship or
a literary style. He was none the less
sure, however, of his knowledge of
for, says he, in his last edition Of the
| Delight" 81 am now grown old
l have written no more than mine own
experience and practice If any
noble or gentle angler, of what degree
SoeVer he be, have a mind to discourse
of any of these wages and experiments,
I live in Henry the THIS Gifts the next
door to the Gatehouse in Westm. My
name is Barker, where shall be ready
as long as pleased Cod to Statistic them
and maintain my art through life
which is not like to be long.
Following Barker, the literature on
angling began to contain more and
more about cookery in its application
to the fish of stream or lake. Even the
so-called 'piscatorial poets," almost all
of whom may be found in the Harvard
collection, make mention of this branch
in their treatises on fishing. We find,
for example:
my strung line was 26 yardes long
| gave him a turn though
found him strong
wound up my line to guide him from
Shoar
The handbook helps much but the cook
cry more.
These crude and tottering verses are
from one Of the manuals called DE
lights" which were published extern
sively in the eighteenth century.
There were Delights" for the cook,
the gardner, the lady's maid, the sail
or, the soldier, the angler-and APP
parently for every class of society.
There were also such manuals as "The
Compleat Housemaid,' the "Compleat
Farmer" and the like, some of which
contained directions for fishing, maxi
ing fish traps, and preparing fish for
the table.
Others Wrote of Angling.
England, of course, was not alone in
producing works. on fishes and ang-
ling; there were a number of foreign
writer's and few works in Latin. The
chief in interest of these in the Har-
ward collection is the work of Guillu-
anne de Saluste, Seigneur Du Bartas,
called by it's author Divine Weekes
and Workes," which contains, in gen
eral account of the creation, a palms.
taking list of the fishes created on the
fifth day. In the translation it was an
immensely popular English book.
Among other curiosities of the COL
lection is a tome published from the
old manuscript of a Derbyshire fisher
man of two centuries ago, entitled
"Flees and the artyfshall flee making"
The book contains actual specimens of
artificial flies and samples of the ma
terial for making them. Another vol
ume is the work Of David Cairncross,
who, strangely enough, in the middle
of the last century and it's enlightment.
put forth beautifully bound and illus
trated work to prove that the eel has
for its progenitor a modest little spe-
cies of beetle. Nearby is a queer
shaped, fat old tome, once the prop
erty of William Penn; and bearing his
autograph on the fly leaf
Such are some of the bits Of interest
that an afternoons ramble through the
Bartlett library brings to light. Each
new volume, or each weathered, frown-
ing tome in leather may hide between
it's covers some pretty versifed lines
on angling, some interesting instruc-
ton in the art, some quaint philosophy
of the seventeenth century sportsman,
or plates Of strange tropical fishes,
beautifully set forth in color, or a GU,
rfous theory of q forgotten crank of
the salmon pool or trout brook, or some
scrap of description which quickens
the memory of the bookworm to the
sound of the wind in the pines, the
sight of the fresh greenery of the
mountain torrent, and the smell Of the
cracking brentwood fire. Perhaps at
the end of ones examination one re-
calls the old verses of John Dennys,
who sings of the angler as one
''Who with his angle and his bookes
Can think thelonges day well spent,
And praises God when he looks
And finds that all was innocent