BIBLIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. li 



Pardon, Sir, these confused lfnc» of mine, 



In too much hast I 've cast in every line ? 



I could not draw 'em smooth ; For who could stay 



Seeing Fish go all so plum away. 



For I must say, To catch Fish and cheat 'em, 



Find, who can, surer ways, and, troth, I 'le eat 'em. 



T. B." 



His o\^Ti address to the Reader is so delightfully written 

 that I must make some extracts : " In this pleasant and 

 harmless Art of Angling, a man hath none to quarrel with 

 but himself, and we are usually so entirely our own friends 

 as not to retain an irreconcilable hatred against ourselves, 

 but can in a short time easily compose the enmity ; 

 and besides ourselves none are offended, none are enda- 

 maged ; and this Recreation falleth within the capacity of 

 the lowest fortune to compass, affording also profit as well 

 as pleasure ; in the following of which Exercise a man 

 may imploy his thoughts in the noblest studies almost as 

 freely as in his closet. 



" The minds of anglers being usually more calm and 



composed than many others, and suppose he take 



nothing, yet he enjoyeth a delightful Walk by pleasant 

 Rivers, in Sweet Pastures, among odoriferous Flowers, 

 w^hich gratifie his Senses and delight his Mind : . . . . 



" But, peradventure, some may alledg that this art is 

 mean, melancholy, and insipid : I suppose the old answer, 

 De gustihus non est disputandum, will hold as firmly in 

 Recreations as Palats : many have supposed Angling void 

 of delight, having never tried it, yet have afterward ex- 

 perimented it so full of content, that they have quitted all 

 other Recreation (at least in its season) to pursue it, and I 

 do persuade myself, that whosoever shall associate him- 

 self with some honest, expert Angler, who will freely and 

 candidly communicate his skill unto him, will in a short 

 time be convinced that Ars non hahet inimicujn nisi ig- 

 norantem ; and the more any experiment its harmless 

 delight (not subject to passion or expence) probably he 



