2 Piers FiilJiain. 



11 But in rennjmg ryvers that bee commone, 

 There will I fisshe and taake my fortune 

 With nettys, and with angle hookys, 

 And laye weris and sprenteris in narrow 



brookys, 



Ffor loochis, and lampreyes, and good layk, 

 I will stele off no mans a strayke." 



Angling has long been known as " the 

 contemplative man's recreation." I always 

 thought this expression originated with 

 Walton, as it is the second title of his 

 Compleat Angler but it appears, from a 

 few lines of preface to the tract of Piers 

 of Fulham on fishing, this is not so : 



" Loo, worshipfull sirs, here after ffolle- 

 weth a gentlymanly tretyse full convenyent 

 for contemplatiff louers to rede and under- 

 stond, made by a noble Clerke Piers of 

 ffulha, sum tyme ussher of Venus Schole, 

 which hath brieflye compyled many praty 

 conceytis in loue under covert terms of 

 ffysshyng and ffowlyng." 



ADVENTURE OF SIR WILLIAM WALLACE 

 WHILE FISHING IN IRVINE WATER. 



Another early reference to angling, or at 

 any rate taking fish for sport, is found in 

 The Adventures of Sir William Wallace, 

 written about 1460 by a wandering Scotch 

 bard called Blind Harry. The incident 



