ffHAP. I. JHE COMPLETE ANGLER. 105 



Concerning which two opinions I shall forbear to 

 add a third, by declaring my own ; and rest myself 

 contented in telling you, my very worthy friend, that 

 both these meet together, and do most properly belong 

 to the most honest, ingenuous, quiet, and harmless art 

 of angling. 



And first, I shall tell you what some have observed, 

 and 1 have found it to be a real truth, that the very 

 sitting by the river's side, is not only the quietest and 

 fittest place for contemplation, but will invite an angler 

 to it : and this seems to be maintained by the learned 

 Peter du Moulin*, who in his discourse of the fulfilling 

 of prophecies, observes, that when God intended to 

 reveal any future events or high notions to his prophets, 

 he then carried them either to the desarts, or the sea- 

 shore, that having so separated them, from amidst the 

 press of people and business, and the cares of the 

 world, he might settle their mind in a quiet repose, 

 and there make them fit for revelation. 



And this seems also to be intimated by the children 

 of Israel, Ps. 137. who having in a sad condition ba- 

 nished all mirth and musick from their pensive hearts, 

 and having hung up their then mute harps upon the 

 willow-trees growing by the rivers of Babylon, sat 

 down upon those banks, bemoaning the ruins of Sion, 

 and contemplating their own sad condition. 



And an ingenuous Spaniard f says, that " rivers 

 <c and tbe inhabitants of the watery clement were made 

 " for wise men to contemplate, and fools to pass by 

 " without consideration." And though I will not 

 rank myself in the number of the first, yet give me 

 leave to free myself from the last, by offering to you 

 a short contemplation, first of rivers, and then of fish ; 

 concerning which I doubt not but to give you many 

 observations that will appear very considerable : I am 



* Dr. Peter du Moulin, Prebendary of Canterbury, and author of 

 several pieces in the Romish controversy. 



f It has been said that the person here meant was John Valdesso t men- 

 tioned in the Life of Walton preceding, and that the passage in the text 

 occurs in his Considerations , but upon a careful perusal of that book for 

 the purpose, no such sentiment has been found. 



