XVII 



my self, and introduct you into the slen- 

 der margin of this my uncultivated book ; 

 and examine the volume, if provided any 

 thing may be found there worthy your inge- 

 nious entertainment, or the general accep- 

 tation of so splendid a society, that gives 

 laws and rules to all the anglers in Eng- 

 land ; that accommodates every county with 

 rods for diversion, and inriches every ri- 

 ver with hooks and lines ; that circumspect- 

 ly prescribes critical hours for recreation, 

 and consults both the mean and elevation 

 of angling, whereby to augment and quicken 

 the spur of pleasure. But I'm sorry I can 

 raise my scenes no higher, to elevate this 

 admirable piscatorian science, beyond the 

 Elizium of the angler's Arcadia. For had 

 I that pre-eminence of pen and fancy, to il- 

 lustrate what the art of it self deservedly re- 

 quires, I should impoverish England, nay 

 it may be all Europe, if not all the world, 

 to select expressions, to express and deci- 

 pher it's deserved encomium. But finding 

 my self unable to accomplish this great un- 

 dertaking, I'll silently sit down satisfied, 



