INTRODUCTION. 



vost of Eton College, Sir Henry Wotten in the reign of 

 James I. who thus commends the art of angling after the 

 labor of study, as " a rest to his mind, a chearer of his 

 spirits, a diverter of sadness, a calmer of unquiet thoughts, 

 a moderator of passions, a procurer of contentedness; 

 that it begat habits of peace and patience in those that 

 possessed and practised it. " 



It was loved cherished and practised with uncommon 

 ardor and assiduity by the venerable and good Mr. Isaac 

 Walton, emphatically called " The common father of all 

 anglers^^^ until his decease in December 1783, at an age 

 exceeding four score and ten. In 1653, he compiled and 

 published his celebrated " Complete Angler or contempla- 

 tive man^s recreation,'^ to which his adopted son Charles 

 Cotton, Esq. added a valuable supplement. 



J. Barker, Esq. who angled for sixty years, and Col. R. 

 Venables polished works of good repute. 



Several modern authors of celebrity have contributed 

 to instruct us in piscatory amusements; after all, it will be 

 found that proficiency is only to be obtained by patience 

 and long practice. 



Walton compares '■^angling to the virtue of humility, 

 which has a calmness of spirit, and a world of other bles- 

 sings attending upon it.^' 



If it be conceded to have these salutary effects, opera- 

 ting like a panacea to the wearied mind, an occasional 

 resort to it, as a harmless pastime and relaxation, is both 

 wise and worthy of all commendation and adoption by 

 the sedentary student, or care oppressed man of industi-y 

 in business, as essentially contributary to happiness and 

 length of days. It is some evidence of it to learn that 

 Doctor Nowell lived to fill the measure of ninety-five 

 years, blessed with unimpaired faculties of mind and body, 

 attributed by himself, to "angling and temperance." 



Sir Henry Wotton lived to see upwards of seventy-one 

 years, and Doctors Perkins and Whitaker both lived to 

 very advanced ages; descending to our own times, and 

 approaching our own worthy anglers and officers of celeb- 

 rity the several Governors of the Fishing Company, 



