" La Canna de Piscare" 5 5 



I feel at all times as if I had made my 

 escape from the ordinary ills and plagues 

 of life. I have commonly had one or 

 two companions, and we have enjoyed 

 ourselves in as lively and rational a man- 

 ner as possible ; giving to Nature all her 

 due, and dwelling on the various pic- 

 turesque scenes we every day meet with, 

 in that true spirit of admiration so im- 

 provable to the heart and understanding. 

 I feel confident that most of our great 

 artists must have been fishers in early life. 

 Our art is well fitted to arouse the dormant 

 powers of sentiment, and the general ideas 

 of the sublime and beautiful in external 

 nature. It is said that Michael Angelo, 

 when a youth, often amused himself with 

 the fishing-rod, and would take long 

 journeys to visit spots famous for their 

 rural scenery and beauties. The same I 

 have heard remarked of less distinguished 

 artists, both sculptors and painters of our 

 own and other countries ' (La Cantia, 

 p. 60)."* 



* In the Bibliotheca Piscatoria (1883) the only 

 reference to this work is as follows : " Canna. La 

 Canna de Pescare, 1612. (Known to us by title 

 only)." Robert Blakey, whose preface to his 

 Historical Sketches of the Angling Literature of 

 all Nations is dated 1855, evidently knew the 

 book, or we should not have had this delightful 

 extract from it. 



