38 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 



the "Apostle of Temperance," a Roman Catholic 

 priest, who died in 1856 ; the Rev. William Lisle 

 Bowles, Canon of Salisbury, who died in 1850; 

 Bishop Claughton of St Albans, who died in 

 1892 ; and the Rev. Morgan George Watkins, 

 now living. Mr Watkins, in his preface to the 

 above-mentioned facsimile reproduction of The 

 Treaty se of Fysshynge wyth an Angle (see p. 

 29), well says that the last two pages of 

 it give us a portrait of the writer's conception of 

 the perfect angler — " simplicity of disposition, for- 

 bearance to our neighbour's rights, and considera- 

 tion in fishing or employment of its gentle art to 

 increase worldly gain and fill the larder is equally 

 condemned. She holds the highest view of 

 angling ; that it is to serve a man for solace, and 

 to cause the health of his body, but especially of 

 his soul. So she would have him pursue his craft 

 alone for the most part, when his mind can rise to 

 high and holy things, and he may serve God 

 devoutly by saying from his heart his customary 

 prayer. Nor should a man ever carry his amuse- 

 ment to excess and catch too much at one time ; 

 this is to destroy his future pleasure and to 

 interfere with that of his neighbours. A good 

 sportsman too, she adds, will busy himself in nourish- 

 ing the game and destroying all vermin." I cannot 

 refrain from quoting a paragraph from Salmonia ; 

 or. Days of Fly Fishing , which might have come 



