72 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



believe, by comparing the affectionate, loving, 

 lowly, humble Epistles of Saint Peter, Saint James, 

 and Saint John, whom we know were all fishers, 

 with the glorious language and high metaphors of 

 Saint Paul, who we may believe was not. 



And for the lawfulness of fishing, it may very 

 well be maintained by our Saviour's bidding Saint 

 Peter cast his hook into the water, and catch a 

 fish, for money to pay tribute to Caesar. And let 

 me tell you that angling is of high esteem, and of 

 much use in other nations. He that reads the 

 voyages of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto shall find that 

 there he declares to have found a king and several 

 priests a-fishing. 



And he that reads Plutarch shall find that an- 

 gling was not contemptible in the days of Mark 

 Antony and Cleopatra, and that they in the midst 

 of their wonderful glory used angling as a princi- 

 pal recreation. And let me tell you that in the 

 Scripture angling is always taken in the best 

 sense ; and that though hunting may be some- 

 times so taken, yet it is but seldom to be so under- 

 stood. And let me add this more : he that views 

 the ancient Ecclesiastical Canons shall find hunt- 

 ing to be forbidden to churchmen, as being a tur- 

 bulent, toilsome, perplexing recreation ; and shall 

 find angling allowed to clergymen, as being a 

 harmless recreation, a recreation that invites them 

 to contemplation and quietness. 



I might here enlarge myself, by telling you what 

 commendations our learned Perkins bestows on 



