Fearing. — An Angling Library 69 



who offereth a bribe, but a fisher for another man's con- 

 science? And what is he who taketh a bribe but the 

 silly fish that is caught with the bait?" 



In the 17th Century in England, men's minds were 

 much more turned to religion than in the present, and 

 many books were written on common every-day subjects 

 that were really religious works. Of this class of book, 

 the scarcest is "A Booke of Angling or Fishing," by Dr. 

 Samuel Gardiner, published in London, in 1606. Of this 

 book, only three copies are known to exist, one in the 

 Bodleian Library, one formerly in the Huth collection, 

 recently dispersed at auction, and its final purchaser not 

 known, and the third is in this library. The history of 

 this copy has been impossible to trace. It was discovered 

 by the buyer for a London bookseller in the west of Eng- 

 land. With others of its kind, the majority of which are 

 very scarce, it may be called "Fishing Spiritualized." 



The English poets contain much of interest to the 

 angler, as many have written in praise or description 

 of the sport. Among the earliest is Michael Drayton, 

 from whom indeed Walton may have obtained his idea 

 of the colloquial form of the "Compleat Angler." In 

 Drayton's 6th "Nymphal," the subject is a discussion be- 

 tween a woodman, a fisherman and a shepherd, each 

 holding to the superior merits of his own vocation. 

 Drayton's other poems contain many allusions to fish and 

 fishing. 



William Browne in his "Britannia's pastorals" writes 

 so charmingly of the angler that one feels he must have 

 loved the art himself. 



Our friend, Charles Cotton, of sainted memory, 

 wrote "Poems on several occasions" in 1689, which are 

 filled with his favorite subject and friend, angling and 

 Walton. John Gay in his "Rural Sports," 1713, comes 

 well into our list. Thomas Heyrick is another who 

 wrote frequently on the subject and in one of his poems, 

 "A Pindaresque ode in praise of angling," he not only 

 praises angling, but abuses in vehement fashion those 

 who do not angle. 



