38 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART i. 



of Adam, taught it to his sons, and that by them it was derived 

 to posterity : others say that he left it engraven on those pillars 

 which he erected, and trusted to preserve the knowledge of the 

 mathematics, music, and the rest of that precious knowledge, 

 and those useful arts, which by God's appointment or allowance, 

 and his noble industry, were thereby preserved from perishing in 

 Noah's flood. 



These, Sir, have been the opinions of several men, that have 

 possibly endeavoured to make angling more ancient than is need- 

 ful, or may well be warranted ; but for my part, I shall content 

 myself in telling you that angling is much more ancient than the 

 incarnation of our Saviour ; for in the Prophet Amos * mention 

 is made of fish-hooks ; and in the Book of Job,f which was long 

 before the days of Amos, for that book is said to have been 

 written by Moses, mention is made also of fish-hooks, which must 

 imply anglers in those times. J 



But, my worthy friend, as I would rather prove myself a gentle- 

 man, by being learned and humble, valiant and inoffensive, 

 virtuous and communicable, than by any fond ostentation of 

 riches, or, wanting those virtues myself, boast that these were in 

 my ancestors ; and yet I grant, that where a noble and ancient 

 descent and such merit meet in any man, it is a double dignifica- 

 tion of that person ; so if this antiquity of angling, which for my 

 part I have not forced, shall, like an ancient family, be either an 

 honour or an ornament to this virtuous art which I profess to love 

 and practise, I shall be the gladder that I made an accidental 

 mention 6 of the antiquity of it, of which I shall say no more, 

 but proceed to that just commendation which I think it deserves. 



VARIATIONS. 



6 accidental mention of it ; and shall proceed to the justification, or rather commen- 

 dation of it. 



Viator. My worthy friend, I am much pleased with your discourse, for that you 

 seem to be so ingenuous, and so modest, as not to stretch arguments into hyperbolical 

 expressions, but such as indeed they will reasonably bear ; and, I pray, proceed to the 

 justification, or commendations of Angling, which I also long to hear from you. 



Piscator. Sir, I shall proceed ; and my next discourse shall be rather a commendation 

 than a justification of Angling: for, in my judgment, if it deserves to be commended, it 

 is more than justified, for some practices that may be justified, deserve no commendation: 

 yet there are none that deserve commendation but may be justified. 



6 accidental mention of it ; and so I pass from the antiquity of Angling to the com- 

 mendation of it. zd edit. 



in the Secrets of Angling to which Walton alludes is in the division of the poem entitled 

 "The Author of Angling. Poetical Fictions." 



"Then did Deucalion first the art invent." 



The passage referred to in Markham, whose opinion Walton says, in ihej^rst edition, 

 he " likes better," is in the " Pleasures of Princes, or Good Men's Recreations, con- 

 taining a Discourse of the General Art of Fishing with an Angle or otherwise," 410, 1614, 

 p. 3. T. * Chap. iv. 2. f Chap. Ixi. i, 2. } See also Isaiah xix. 8. 



