THE 



PREFACE 



TO THE 



Lovers of Angling. 



Gentlemen, 



np His little treatise of the Pleasure of An- 

 gling / Composed for my own Diver- 

 sion, not that I Glory of being an Artist in 

 that harmless Recreation; Really, I cannot 

 presume to be the only expert in that Art, 

 knowing there be many abler Artists, espe- 

 cially that Ingenious Author of the Innocent 

 Epicure whose Poem is worthy Admiration ; 

 / have taken nothing from him, nor of hers 

 who have wrote of the Art of Angling, and 

 think my own Experience is best to display 

 my own thoughts, which I have done in a kind 

 of rambling way, my thoughts some time rim 

 on the Muses, as well as on Fishes, for which 

 reason I have endeavoured to put my beloved 

 Exercise in Verse, most was Composed by the 

 River side, in such seasons the Fish did not 

 yield the pleasure I expected, all are my own 



observations 



