Forgotten Treasures #13: THE ANGLER--PART 1

This one is for the scholars in our midst.
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THE ANGLER*
(authorship unattributed)

From: The Eclectic Review
January-June
New Series
Vol. VII.
London, Ward and Co., 27, Paternoster Row.
1854

ART. III.--The Angler. Philadelphia. 1842.
2. La Canna da Pescare. Venise. 1840.
3. Le Pecheur. Revue des Deux Mondes. Paris. 1853.
4. The Erne; its Legends and its Fly Fishing. By the Rev. Henry Newland.
1853.
5. Angling and other Songs. By T.S. Stoddart. Edinburgh.
6. The Complete Angler's Guide to the Rivers and Lakes of England and
Wales. By Robert Blakely, Esq. London. 1853.

Contemporaneously with Walton's book, 1613, or rather some years before its
appearance, the art of angling was treated of in a sentimental strain by
some Italian writers. In 1584, we have 'L'Alces Favola Pescatoria,' by
Antonio Ongaro, published at Venice, and highly embellished with a profusion
of emblematical devices. This work gives a lively description of fishing;
the nature of the rivers and their scenery in Italy; the different kinds of
bait used for fish of various sorts; and of their instincts and habits. It
is in this publication, as far as our knowledge extends, that we first meet
with the statement that the trout (trota) pair in the months of July and
August, and that the conjugal union seems to be cemented by a powerful
sympathy and affection. This writer likewise states the fact--well
ascertained by modern observers--that there is a regular kind of domestic
government maintained among this class of fish; the largest apparently
assuming supreme authority. We have ourselves witnessed in British rivers
numerous exemplifications of the finny legislation. We have seen, say two
or three dozen trout, all arranged wedge fashion, the largest at the thin or
sharp end of the wedge, and the smaller, in strict proportion to their
dimensions, placed in the rear of the column. Should food be cautiously
thrown in among the group when in this position, the largest always takes
it; and the other members of the company never go a single inch out of the
regular ranks. The Italian author mentions the fact, but is somewhat at a
loss to divine what is the end or final cause for this singular movement.
We confess we can offer no satisfactory solution of the matter.
We must not omit to mention the celebrated work of Hippolito Salviani,
1558, entitled 'Aquatilium Animalium Historia.' It is a treatise of five
hundred pages, with upwards of one hundred copper-plate engravings, and it
gives a very full and correct account of the nature and habits of fish in
general.
The notion about the loves of fish has often been dwelt upon, and been
the subject of many fabulous and absurd speculations. According to
Gomesius, 'Fishes pine away for love, and become lean.' (Pisces ob amorem
marces****,
palles****, &c. De Sale.) And in many parts of the east and north of
Europe, even at the present day, there are vague notions floating in the
minds of the rural population, about young maidens holding interesting
conversations with fish, as they frequent the streams for water.[1]
Some writers have gone upon the opposite tack, and ascribed revengeful
and devotional feelings to the finny tribes. A great number of legends are
taken up with these topics in the early and middle ages. Geraldus tells a
story, that in Normandy, a few days before the death of Henry the Second,
the fish of a certain pool near Sees, five miles from the castle of Exme,
fought during the night so furiously with each other, both in the water and
out of it, that the neighbouring people were attracted by the noise to the
spot; and, so desperate was the conflict, that scarcely a fish was found
alive in the morning. 'Thus,' says the author, 'by wonderful and unheard-of
prognostic, foretelling the death of one by that of many.'[2]
At Borghese Palace at Rome, there is a representation of St. Anthony
Preaching to the Fishes. It is said that the salmon look at the preacher
with a singularly expressive and edifying face; and that a cod, with his
upturned eyes, seems anxiously looking for a new light. St. Anthony's
sermon is to be found in nearly all the bookseller's shops in Rome. The
Saint begins thus: 'Dearly beloved Fish;' and at the conclusion of the
address it is said that the fish 'bowed to him with profound humility, and
with a grave and religious countenance.' After this, 'they scudded away to
make new conversions--becoming, in fact, active and zealous missionaries of
the ocean'!
In keeping with this, we must place the Legend of St. Patrick, the
patron saint of Ireland. The holy man having an irresistable desire for
some flesh-meat, obtained a piece of pork, and hid it. An apparition had
its eyes upon him, and struck him with remorse of conscience. He repented;
and, as a proof of this sincerity, an angel turned this piece of pork into
fish! There was an excellent satirical song, written about fifty years ago
by a well-known angler of Trinity College, Dublin, on this legendary tale;
we regret that our limits will not allow its insertion.
Akin to the loves and hatreds, and religious feelings of fish, a portion
of the literature of angling is devoted to the fascination or charming of
them. We find recipes for this purpose in nearly all the works on fishing
published in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There have been the
most singular opinions on the subject in all countries. Becke, in his book
on 'Angling,' Leipsic, 1606, tells us, that if we take a gold ring, and look
with one eye at a trout through it, in a clear pool of water, for the space
of two minutes consecutively, the fish will be quite fascinated, and you may
go and take it out with your hand. The number of compounds for baits, to
intoxicate and charm the finny tribes, are almost innumerable; and many of
the instructions for making and using them are, in English works, given in
rhyme; we shall select two from among a score in our possession:--

A RECIPE TO CATCH FISH.

To make all the Fishes in a pond to come to thy hond.--
Tak palma Christi and frankandsence, and medel him togedir, and put hit in
some clowte, and holde the pouder in the finger that a gold ryng is upon,
and wasch thy hond in every corner of the pont, fisches wolle come to thi
honde.--From a M.S. on vellum, of about the year 1400, in the possession of
J.O. Halliwell, Esq.

Wouldst thou catch Fish?
Then have this wish;
Take this receipt
To anoint thy bait.

Thou that desirest to fish with line and hook.
Be it in poole, in river, or in brooke.
To bless thy baite, and make the fish to bite,
Loe! here's a means, if thou canst hit it right;
Take gum of life, fine beat, and laid to soak,
And oyle well drawn from that which kills the oake,
Fish when thou wilt, thou shalt have sport thy fill,
When twenty fail, thou shalt be sure to kill.

It's perfect and good,
If well understood;
Else not to be told
For silver or gold.

R.R. 1613. From a M.S. in the British Museum.

A few years after, Giovanni Villifranchi published at Venice, in 1614,
his 'L'Amaranto Favola Pescatoria.' There is an edition of this work, dated
1612, but it is much smaller, and printed on inferior paper. In 1621, we
find another Italian publication, of about two hundred and fifty pages,
entitled 'La Canna da Pescare,' in which there is some very interesting
descriptions of angling excursions on some of the higher sections of the
river Arno, and its smaller tributaries. These waters are very prolific of
fish, and they seem at this period to have been much frequented by piscatory
amateurs and pic-nic parties. A goodly portion of sentiment and feeling is
thrown into this little treatise. The author descants on the loveliness of
nature so commonly displayed on the banks of rivers, and on the remarkably
soothing influence which the rippling and murmuring sounds of falling and
running streams of water has upon the human mind. He says,--

'I have travelled much with the rod, in certain seasons of the year, by the
banks of the chief fishing localities of Italy, and I feel at all times as
if I had made my escape from the ordinary ills and plagues of life. I have
commonly had one or more companions, and we have enjoyed ourselves in as
lively and rational a manner as possible; giving to Nature all her due, and
dwelling on the various picturesque scenes we every day meet with, in that
true spirit of admiration so improvable to the heart and understanding. I
feel confident that most of our great artists must have been fishers in
early life. Our art is well fitted to arouse the dormant powers of
sentiment, and of the general ideas of the sublime and beautiful in external
nature. It is said, that Michel Angelo, when youth, often amused himself
with the fishing-rod, and would take long journeys to visit spots famous for
their rural scenery and beauties. The same thing I have heard remarked of
less distinguished artists, both sculptors and painters, of our own and of
other countries.'--La Canna, p. 60.

Villifranchi has several angling songs in his work, full of Italian
sentiments of love, &c. One of these, commencing with the line, 'La mia
donzella ch'e cosi allegre e bella,' we shall here insert, as a specimen of
his style and train of thought:--

'My pretty maids, so blythe and gay,
With crook and line, whence come you, pray?'
'We come, sir, from the neighbouring hill
Close by the fount of this clear rill;

There, in a little tuff of green,
Our Father's angling cot is seen;
Beneath that dear, though narrow shed,
We sisters all were born and bred.'

'Oh, what must be the favour'd place
That yields such charms and native grace,
As sedgy weeds no more can shroud
Than noon-day's sun an envious cloud!
Love's genuine progeny you seem,
From each fair face such pleasures beam.'

'Our business is to tend our flocks,
To throw our lines beyond the rocks;
When fed, we drive our flocks at eve,
So now, kind sir, we take our leave.'

'Well might it grieve your beauties rare,
To waste themselves on desert air,
When courts and cities would delight
To give them to the public sight;
But tell me, do your feel content
On toils so homely to be pent?'

'More true content within us dwells,
While roving through these streamy dells,
Than fills the hearts of ladies great,
While dancing in the rooms of state;
No wealth we want, or fine array,
Our cares and wandering make us gay.'

With some variations, from Dr. Alkin's version.

Casting an eye from Italy towards Spain, we recognize several books on
Angling, written, however, chiefly by ecclesiastics. There was one
published at Valladolid in 1650, containing a list of river fish and a
description of the various kinds of hooks and line requisite for their
capture. D. Teodoro de Almeida wrote a work, 'On the Nature of Fish,'
Madrid, 1700, which is interesting, as containing a correct and full account
of a great number of the finest rivers in Spain, that are adapted for
rod-fishing. A little after this period we have 'The Fisher,' by Father
Bostos, a moralizing and religious work on the general profession of a
fisher. And here it may be remarked, that the Catholic church, which
meddles with everything, meddled likewise with angling. It took it under
its especial protection to the exclusion of hunting, and other recreations
of a boisterous character. There is a standing Canon[3] on the subject,
which states that hunters have generally been great sinners, citing the
example of Esau; whereas fishermen, by Scripture testimony, have usually
been deemed holy. Here is the reason for this opinion:--'Sed quare
prohibetur venari, et non piscari? quia fortè piscatis fit sine clamore,
venatio non; vel quia major est, delectatio invenatione; dum enim quis est
in venatione nihil potest de divines cogitare.' The church likewise alludes
to the great Ambrose, who, in his thirty-third homily, expresses himself in
perfect harmony with these sentiments.[4]
There are a few French treatises on angling, but it is only those of
modern date which treat of the art in a descriptive and sentimental strain.
Since the peace of 1814, the French officers of the army have cultivated
rod-fishing after the English fashion, particularly in Normandy and
Brittany, the Upper Pyrenees, at the towns of Bagnières de Biggare and
Tarbes, on the river Adour, and other localities on the Switzerland side of
the Kingdom. There have been several small works on rod-fishing published
at Lyons, Paris, Rouen, &c., within the last forty years, containing
descriptive pieces in verse on the chief rivers of France. We shall venture
to transcribe one of these, minus the spirit and vivacity of the original,
to impart to the reader, if we can, some general idea as to the manner that
French angling tourists treat the subject. The following line appeared at
Rouen in 1840, and refer to the river Soane;--

'No fairer land can meet the eye,
Than skirts thy banks, O Soane!
Nor groves se sweet, and gardens green'
Nor lovelier skies e'er shone.

'Thy gorgeous shades ne'er seem to tire
The angler's graphic eye;
When streams gush out with sparkling foam,
And purple fires the sky.

'Thy waters play--and flowers adorn
The banks, so fair and green;]
And birds of richest plumage rest
In wooded copse, unseen.

'The trout regales in purest streams,
And shows his golden hue;
And anglers ply their art with zest,
Nor need their labours rue.

'Thy upper steams, when near thy source,
No richer scene can show;
And e'en when traffic soils thy breast,
They still with grandeur flow.

'No angling pleasures can be found,
More racy and more sweet,
Than on thy hallow'd banks to roam,
When prudence guides the feet.'

[1] Hist. Anim. Leipsic, 1621, folio.
[2] Geral., lib. i. p. 6.
[3] Decretals, Lyons, 1670.
[4] See on this subject 'Principes de Conduite, Ordonnances et Statuts au
Diocèse d' Arras,' 1825.

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End, PART 1

On 8/2/06 9:24 AM, in article , "Wolfgang"
wrote:

This one is for the scholars in our midst.
_______________________________________________


THE ANGLER*
(authorship unattributed)

With poetry AND footnotes!

Am taking it with me on my lunch break. Thank you kind sir!

Bill