ittle more than borrow and edit the treatise. The same may
be said of another version of _The Book of St. Albans_ "now newly
collected by W.G. Faulkener" and issued in 1596.

_Modern Literature_.--In 1600 appeared John Taverner's _Certaine
Experiments concerning Fish and Fruite_, and after this the period of
angling literature proper begins. The _Secrets of Angling_ (1613),
by J(ohn) D(ennys). Esq., is one of the most important volumes in the
angler's library, both on account of the excellence of the verse
in which it is written and also on account of its practical value.
Gervase Markham, "the first journalist," as he has been called,
published his first book of husbandry at the same date, and, as in
most of his many books on the same subject, devoted a certain amount
of space to fishing. But Markham gathered his materials in a rather
shameless manner and his angling passages have little originality.
Thomas Barker's _The Art of Angling_ (1st ed., 1651) takes a more
honourable position, and received warm commendation from Izaak Walton
himself, who followed it in 1653 with _The Compleat Angler_. So
much has been written about this treasured classic that it is only
necessary to indicate its popularity here by saying that its editions
occupy some twenty pages in _Bibliotheca Piscatoria_ (1883), and that
since that work was published at least forty new editions have to be
added to the list. During Walton's life-time the book ran through five
editions, and with the fifth (1676) was incorporated Charles Cotton's
second part, the "instructions how to angle for a trout or grayling,
in a clear stream." In some cases too there was added a third book,
the fourth edition of _The Experienced Angler_, by Robert Venables
(1st ed., 1662). The three books together bore the title of _The
Universal Angler_. Venables's portion was dropped later, but it is
worth reading, and contained sound instruction though it has not the
literary merit of Walton and Cotton.

A few other notable books of the century call for enumeration,
_The Gentleman's Recreation_ by Nicholas Cox (1674), Gilbert's _The
Angler's Delight_ (1676), Chetham's _Vade-Mecum_ (1681), _The Complete
Troller_ by Robert Nobbes (1682), R. Franck's _Northern Memoirs_
(1694), and _The True Art of Angling_ by J.S. (1696). Of these
Chetham, Nobbes, Franck and J.S. have the merit of considerable
originality. Franck has gained some notoriety by his round abuse
of Walton. In the 18th cen