PREFATORY NOTE 



TO ALL READERS, " BUT ESPECIALLY 

 TO THE HONEST ANGLER" 



THINK fit to tellthee these follow- 

 ing truths, that I did neither under- 

 take, nor write, nor publish, and 

 much less own, this discourse, to- 

 please myself ; and having been too easily drawn 

 to do all to please others, as I proposed not the 

 gaining of credit by this undertaking, so I would 

 not willingly lose any part of that to which I 

 had a just title before I begun it, and do therefore 

 desire and hope, if I deserve not commendation, 

 yet I may obtain pardon . . . and I wish the 

 reader also to take notice that in writing of it I 

 have made myself a recreation of a recreation" 



I, an amateur angler, a humble disciple, ven- 

 ture to think I may, without too great presump- 



